PINELLAS COUNTY – Pete Kristall said they’re “kind of sitting on pins and needles right now,” waiting to see what the response of the postal workers’ toy drive will be on Saturday, Dec. 3, for the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program.
Kristall, chairman of the north Pinellas program, which distributed more than 40,000 toys and 226 bikes last year, said they’ve been warned that this might be a lean year.
“The postal carriers told us they didn’t do as well on their food drive,” Kristall said, referring to the May collection distributed to local food pantries.
And that was before a record-setting hurricane season caused unprecedented destruction in the Gulf area. With millions of local dollars being sent to hurricane relief funds, it might be assumed that local charities are being neglected.
“Most people recognize that there’s still hunger and poverty right here,” said Sharon Johnson, president of the Christmas Toy Shop, a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that has been distributing toys to needy families in southern Pinellas County for almost a century.
Johnson said its organization had felt the economic impact of the hurricanes, but that they are “right on course with what we distributed last year.”
Last year the Christmas Toy Shop distributed new and used toys, bikes and helmets to about 3,500 children from about 1,000 families.
Several fundraising events were blown awry by the hurricanes.
“We had a chili cook-off and bike fest scheduled in August. Katrina canceled that one,” said Doyce Mathis, acting president and executive director of Treasure Island Charities, a nonprofit organization formed in 1993 by a group of local anglers.
The last weekend of October, the uncertainty caused by Wilma caused a 32 percent decrease in TIC’s expected sign-up for a local fishing tournament, according to Mathis, who said they’ve cut costs to offset lower revenues.
TIC supports local charities serving the nation’s youth and those conserving and preserving marine resources. In past years they’ve passed along as much as $30,000 to $40,000. This year, Mathis said, the amount is $26,000.
Faces of Courage is one of the local charities funded in part by Treasure Island Charities. The Tampa based organization begun by Peggie Sherry of Lutz provides outings and camps for women and children throughout the state with cancer and other serious illnesses.
Santa’s Workshop Weekend scheduled for Dec. 2 to 4 will bring 100 children, some seriously ill and some siblings (“we treat siblings the same way we treat the child who is ill,” Sherry said), to the Rotary Camp in Brandon for a weekend of crafts, canoeing, campfires and celebrity visits.
Two fundraisers planned by Faces of Courage also were canceled because of hurricanes, so Sherry, who said she hasn’t “taken a paycheck for months,” is doubly grateful for supporters such as Treasure Island Charities.
Stuart Berger, financial resource development director for the Jewish Federation of Pinellas County, said that their annual campaign kicked off in November and that, although it’s still early, donations were “ahead of where they were last year,” in spite of sending more than $30,000 in local donations to hurricane relief efforts.
Sophie Samson, executive director for the South Pinellas Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, said she’s grateful their regular supporters have not held back. In addition to holiday needs, the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen serves 20,000 meals a month year round.
