Sept. 11 tragedy altered holiday giving habits

By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer

As Christmas approaches, local charitable organizations say more Hawai'i families are suffering from economic and emotional stresses that in many cases can be traced to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Holiday giving habits are changing in response.

An increasing number of families are falling behind in access to their basic household needs, including food, shelter, beds and cooking utensils, social service providers report.

Requests for assistance at Helping Hands Hawai'i jumped at least 35 percent last month in comparison to numbers from previous years, said Lloyd Asato, the organization's senior program director.

"What we're seeing now are new clients; folks that have been recently affected ... either by national events or by the economy," Asato said.

"A lot of folks have lost jobs," he said. "We've just started to see that wave coming in."

Asato said families' needs include everything from blankets and refrigerators to staples for newborns and young children, such as clothing, baby formula and diapers.

Besides food and shelter, there are other immediate needs, said Irving Lauber, president of Aloha United Way.

"People are stressed out from 9/11, stressed out from anthrax scares, stressed out from what's going on now in Afghanistan," Lauber said, "and of course now we have this accumulated effect of people losing their jobs, or furloughs or reduced hours, which makes their life much more difficult."

Therefore mental health services and services that help keep families strong and together are also very important, Lauber said.

In addition, Hawai'i has stressors of its own. The United Way, in its annual State of Caring Index, ranks Hawai'i highest among states for the cost of rent. A family wage-earner must earn $17.01 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the Islands, the United Way estimates.

The United Way index shows that charitable giving in Hawai'i has increased. The state moved up a rank, from 30th to 29th among the 50 states on a list that reflects the state's "capacity to care for its neighborhoods and citizens."

"The index highlights the increased level of commitment and caring across the state," Lauber said. "It also shows where we can improve and underscores the point that service to your community is important."

In response to the recent national events and Hawai'i's changed circumstances, Asato said, many people have changed the nature of their gift-giving this year.

More and more people are donating to charities in someone's honor in lieu of gift-giving, he said.

"I think people are looking for a way to connect, either as a way to understand or reconnect with the community at large," Asato said.

Lauber is also aware of the increasing popularity of this "giving in lieu."

"We think that the reason people are doing it is it makes them feel good, the person who actually makes the donation. And I think it makes the person whose name it's been given in honor of feel good," Lauber said.

The same goes for many businesses.

"We're seeing a lot of corporations now, local companies, who see big Christmas parties don't make sense anymore. Instead they're taking that money and providing it to local charities," Asato said.

Altres Staffing, an employment services firm, chose to give back to both the community and its customers by making a donation in honor of its clients to the Hawaii Foodbank.

"We feel good about it," said Altres president Barron Guss. "The real meaning is to share with people less fortunate than us and with a true sense of the spirit, not so much of the holidays, but the spirit of humanity."

Aloha United Way

• Contact: 536-1951 or www.auw.org
• Mission: AUW collects money and distributes it to a network of 65 local agencies and more than 330 programs and services.

Hawaii Foodbank

• Contact: 836-3600 or hawaiifoodbank.org
• Mission: To gather food and support from communities and to distribute food through charitable agencies to those in need. The organization provides food supplies to more than 300 Hawaii Foodbank agencies and its pantries statewide.

Helping Hands Hawai'i

• Contact: 536-7234; helpinghandshawaii.org
• Mission: To connect individuals, families and organizations with resources, both human and material. The organization administers six main programs and nearly a dozen community projects.

Reach Zenaida Serrano Espanol at zespanol@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.