Gilbert to decide how to distribute charity money

Gilbert will begin its annual process of deciding how much money to award to social service agencies today.

The process comes as the nonprofits face increasing demand from needy residents hit by the continued economic downturn and the town itself is facing a downturn in sales tax revenue.

Laura Borgeson is program director of Shoebox Ministries, a Scottsdale-based nonprofit which has assembled toiletry kits for the homeless for the last 20 years. She said the demand from shelters is up, while donations are down.

“We used to have people call us for kits and we’d be able to get them done in a week,” she said. “Now it takes two to three weeks, because we have more requests and a lot less donations.”

Shoebox Ministries received $2,000 out of the $502,750 that Gilbert budgeted for social service agency support in the current fiscal year that began July 1. The allocation came from the town’s $125 million General Fund.

Today, the Town Council will start the process of deciding how much to give out of next year’s budget.

Vice Mayor Joan Krueger said the council has to cover a lot of town needs amid a decline in sales taxes, a major source of revenue. Among those needs are those of the town’s employees, who may or may not get an additional cost-of-living raise valued at a total of about $880,000.

“Some might argue this $500,000 would just about cover the raises, but there are families who need those services to survive. This is a bad time to be pulling back on community services for residents,” Krueger said.

Nonprofit representatives and residents will be called on during the council’s Dec. 2 meeting to testify on the social service needs they see in the community. The council then will decide what percentage of the public aid should go toward general types of assistance.

By February, local nonprofits will have submitted applications for funding and the staff will make recommendations and turn the process over to a five-member board of residents to divide the town’s overall allocation.

The council’s largest awards tend to go to child-focused agencies such as the Boys and Girls Club and to the Gilbert Community Action Program, which assists with rent or mortgage payments, child care, medical costs and other needs.

Gilbert has no homeless shelters, so the town helps to defray the costs of shelters in neighboring cities.

Dorothy Corey is director of Mesa-based A&A Cottages, a small agency which provides shelter and services for foster children from throughout the East Valley. Many are being hit hard by the downturn, she said, including one young woman with two children who lives in a Gilbert apartment and whose hours were just cut back at work.

“We’ve had so many calls from people who were doing OK, but they’re struggling now because of this economy,” she said.

 Gilbert’s contributions
General Fund contributions to nonprofit agencies, fiscal 2008-09

Boys/Girls Club contribution                $125,000
Senior Center support             $27,560
Historical museum support                       $50,000
Central AZ Shelter Services contribution   $6,500
Save The Family                            $10,520
Child Crisis Center Emergency Shelter Program                   $25,000
Child Crisis Center Family Resource Center                          $34,000
Special Transport Service contribution                      $5,000
Gilbert Community Action Program contribution                 $110,310
Community Information and Referral          $1,560
East Valley RSVP                $7,000
United Food Bank                              $5,000
East Valley Men’s Center            $19,000
La Mesita                                 $6,900
Shoebox Ministry                             $2,000
About Care Inc                                    $7,400
Advocates for Disabled                         $6,100
Alzheimer’s Association Desert SW Chapter             $3,400
Civitan Foundation            $5,000
TCH, The Centers for Rehabilitation     $11,600
AA Cottages              $5,400
Big Brothers Big Sisters                   $6,500
Junior Achievement of Arizona             $8,000
Gilbert Fine Arts Association             $12,000
Gilbert Visual Artists’ League              $2,000
TOTAL                                   $502,750

Source: Gilbert