Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Auto industry woes hit charities
Auto industry woes hit charities
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 19, 2009
Detroit - For some local charitable and civic organizations, the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors means the direct loss of funding they used to rely upon.
Even organizations that never received direct grants from the automakers are concerned that the companies' downsizing will result in the loss of many individual donations as long-time supporters lose their jobs or become worried about their financial future.
"When the auto companies and southeast Michigan suffer, we suffer," said Patrick Lindsey, director of government affairs and external communications for Focus: HOPE.
Lindsey put the loss of funding for the organization - which seeks to overcome poverty and racism through its job-training, food distribution and community-building programs - at "several million dollars."
To cope with the situation, Focus: HOPE has taken a number of actions, including putting most of its employees on four-day, 36-hour work schedules, down from five-day, 40-hour weeks.
"We've been looking at the way we operate our programs, and streamlining programs, but not sacrificing the quality of the training," Lindsey said.
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Photo courtesy Focus: HOPE
The loss of funding from major automakers has forced Focus: HOPE to streamline its machinists' training program, making some elements optional. |
As an example, he said the students in the machinist training program now only learn grinding if an employer requests it, as many employers have said they do not require it.
And he said energy conservation measures have been implemented throughout Focus: HOPE's buildings in a further effort to reduce expenses.
The Capuchin Soup Kitchen has received "strong support from all the auto companies in the past, and from the UAW as well," said Bro. Jerry Smith, OFM Cap., its executive director.
Now, Chrysler and GM are out of the picture, but Ford is still making grants, he said. But then there are all the small businesses - many auto-related - and individual donors who are affected by what is happening to the major car companies.
Donations held up really well through Christmas and into the new year, but have since declined.
"Now, we're down. We have to raise $7.5 million a year, so we're concerned," Bro. Smith said.
He said a number of local auto dealerships have been supportive, and he is unsure whether they will be able to continue helping.
But the situation has the organization seeking out new sources of funding from foundations, he said.
"I certainly don't want to cut programs or cut the staff," Bro. Smith added.
These days, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen is more than just the one soup kitchen by St. Bonaventure Monastery on Detroit's lower east side. Besides a new facility across from the monastery, there is another soup kitchen on Conner Avenue, plus a food and furniture distribution center, and a substance abuse treatment center.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul won't have to adjust to a drop in corporate donations from the automakers, but auto dealers and individuals who work for them make for a separate story.
"We never really got any corporate money from the Big Three, at least not in the last five to 10 years," said William Brazier, executive of the SSVdP's Detroit Archdiocesan Council.
But Brazier said the SSVdP has benefited from the generosity of a number of local auto dealers. "Three of the major ones - Hoot McInerny (Hoot McInerny Ford and Star Lincoln-Mercury), Dick Genthe (Dick Genthe Chevrolet) and Don Meloche (Palace Chrysler-Dodge) - have told us that even if they can't do it at the level they have in the past, they want to keep doing it," he said.
Rather than scale back its operations, the SSVdP is planning to expand them to address the effects of the economic crisis within the archdiocese. "We figure we need to raise $27 million to help get our area through this crisis, because we know you can't send soldiers into a war without ammunition," Brazier said.
The organization will try to raise the money, but instead of focusing primarily on fundraising, the emphasis is on expanding the number of people involved in the organization and number of parishes with Vincentian conferences (as the parish-based units are called).
Brazier pointed to new conferences recently formed at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Grosse Pointe Farms and St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, and a revitalized conference at Holy Name Parish in Birmingham.
For the Catholic Youth Organization, the effect of the automakers' bankruptcies is indirect, because they never received money from them directly. But its funding could be adversely affected by the lay-offs of employees who have usually designated all or part of their United Way contributions for the CYO, said Suzanne Heath, the organization's executive director.
And as people are laid off or reducing their expenses for fear of lay offs, Heath said many are unable or unwilling to pay the fees required for their children to participate in CYO sports programs.
"We know the parishes have been affected," she added.
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