My gaze met a familiar face the other day at the grocery story. Head tilted against her violin and eyes focused on her sheet music, my neighbour, Cynthia Nidd, sailed through a Christmas carol or two serenading nearby shoppers. Not surprisingly, she was supporting an important charity in town – the Salvation Army. Beside her, the signature Sally Ann Christmas Kettle waited expectantly for donations. I chatted with one of this community’s most reliable volunteers, stuffed a few dollars into the collection ball and left the store thinking about how little there seemed to be in that kettle.
“Who’s going to bail out the big three?” I wondered to myself. “Not Chrysler, G.M. and Ford … but chronic hunger, general homelessness and the food deprived.”
All this month, stories have surfaced about the dramatic decline in charitable donations and sponsorship across the country. As mentioned, the Salvation Army has witnessed a slower donation flow. United Way campaigns have yielded less so far this year. And social agencies struggle to keep up. The local Fishes and Loaves food bank has seen a one-third increase in demand. And this week, a Children’s Aid Society office in the GTA reported a nearly 60 per cent increase in child poverty.
In other words, the 905 area and Greater Toronto Area – considered the region of relative luxury – has now joined the ranks of the have-nots. And because of the disastrous downloading of services during the Harris years, it appears that only citizens in the 905 will be able to help the less fortunate in the 905.
“The infrastructure to assist the needy outside Toronto doesn’t exist,” a CAS worker said on CBC Radio this week.
To amplify the point, CBC Radio’s annual “Sounds of the Season” broadcast, a week ago, rallied Torontonians in support of their Daily Bread Food Bank. The day-long combination of current affairs shows and Christmas entertainment yielded about 8,000 pounds of non-perishable foods as well as $150,000 for the food bank. But again, Toronto services cannot accommodate those in need north of Steeles Avenue.
Last weekend, I joined the annual “Christmas Carol” reading at Christ Church Anglican in Stouffville. It’s a charity event assisting the York Durham Aphasia Centre that I’ve supported since my father died of the stroke-induced disorder in 2004. It was nearly a full house that Sunday afternoon. And this year I read the section of Charles Dickens’ classic in which the two charitably minded gentlemen visit Ebenezer Scrooge at his counting shop.
“‘At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,’ said the one gentleman, taking up a pen, ‘it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute… A few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy some meat and drink and means of warmth… What shall I put you down for?’
“‘Nothing!’” Scrooge thunders. “‘I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry.’”
Of course, most people in the 905 have more empathy and sensitivity than Ebenezer Scrooge. And there haven’t been workhouses or prisons full of debtors since Charles Dickens’ England. But one has to wonder. With 30 or more clients visiting the Fishes and Loaves food bank each time the local facility opens these days and with some municipal support agencies trying to cope with child poverty up more than half from last year, it appears there is nowhere to go, but to the community for help.
So, this time of year, listen closely if a friend sounds on edge. Pay attention to a neighbour’s not-so-obvious needs. And, if possible, be generous to the causes that this year have become less invisible and more desperate.
Yes, I’m all for the federal and provincial governments considering major bailouts for large industrial corporations – the so-called Big Three. Everyone recognizes that auto manufacturers, their parts suppliers, as well as lumber and mining firms, and countless other major employers across Ontario, may need a helping hand. Everyone knows that they in turn keep bread-winners able to keep roofs over their families’ heads and food on their tables. But such corporations have a bad habit of paying dividends to shareholders and bonuses to CEOs before preserving plant jobs.
Meantime, it appears the spirit of giving to those most in need nearby may have to rely on the love of families, the caring of neighbours and the goodness of strangers. But if not that, what is a Christmas for?