WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. Today we're looking at how our local charities are fairing and these tough economic times nationwide close to 50 million Americans are living in deep and prolonged poverty joblessness homelessness and hunger are up which means more people are turning to charities for shelter and food. The latest data out of Massachusetts show that one in every 10 uses a food bank and the number of folks relying on other subsidized assistance is also on the rise. So are enough financial contributions coming in to sustain these demands on our local charities or is economic instability putting a clamp on individual giving. From there we go to Central Falls Rhode Island where citizens of the bankrupt town have succeeded in sparing their beloved library from the chopping block. Up next hard times from balancing the budget to saving the books. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Louise Schiavone. The first lawsuit and a new

accuser in the sex abuse case involving ex Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Details from NPR's Tom Goldman. The plaintiff is referred to as John Doe A. He currently lives outside of Pennsylvania according to the civil suit he met Jerry Sandusky in 1902 when he was 10 years old through Sandusky's charity for troubled kids called The Second Mile. The suit claims Sandusky sexually abused John Doe A over 100 times in multiple locations including Sandusky's home. The Penn State football coaches locker room and facilities out of state connected to a Penn State bowl game. The suit also says Sandusky threatened the plaintiff and threatened to harm the plaintiff's family if John Doe A told anyone about the abuse along with Sandusky the Second Mile and Penn State are named as defendants. The Second Mile said in a statement it will review the lawsuit and then respond appropriately. Tom Goldman NPR News. A big day on Wall Street as central banks around the world moved to stave off more trouble in the global economy as NPR's Chris Arnold reports the move is seen

more as a precaution than a sign of immediate crisis. The U.S. Federal Reserve is acting together with central banks in England Canada Japan Switzerland and Europe. The goal is to make it easier for European banks to access money if a more serious financial crisis starts to take shape in Europe. This is really you know sort of a case of preemptive medicine by the world's central banks. Stuart Hoffman is chief economist with PNC Financial Services Group. This is not reactive this is not like in the last 24 hours there was a turn for the worse in the global financial situation. So this is a positive divel. But to get ahead and prevent any kind of major problem Chris Arnold NPR News. The electoral vote rich state of Pennsylvania is on President Obama's itinerary today although the visits not billed as a campaign trip and PR Scott Horsley reports Mr. Obama is cranking up the pressure on Congress to extend and expand this year's payroll tax cut.

Scranton High School will be the backdrop for Mr. Obama as he again calls on Congress to renew the payroll tax cut. White House economist Alan Krueger says the extra money in the pockets of working families would act as a kind of insurance policy against further economic shocks. And I think it's a time where the economy can use more medicine to strengthen and sustain the recovery. Senate Democrats want to offset the cost of the tax cut with higher taxes on the wealthy. Senate Republicans plan to propose an alternative funding source. Scott Horsley NPR News. Better than expected news from payroll firm ADP boosting the outlook on Wall Street. ADP reporting private sector employers have added two hundred six thousand new jobs this month. The Dow up 418 at eleven thousand nine hundred seventy three. The NASDAQ up. This is NPR. On the itinerary today for GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain a bus tour of Ohio his candidacy has been overshadowed by a Georgia woman's allegations that she and Cain had a 13 year sexual relationship. Cain has denied the

allegations in a Tuesday conference called O'Kane told supporters that he was reassessing his candidacy. AT&T has suffered yet another setback to its proposed thirty nine billion dollar merger with rival wireless company T-Mobile. As NPR's Joel Rose reports federal regulators say they'll release a detailed analysis of their reasons for opposing the deal. Regulators at the Federal Communications Commission announced their opposition to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile last week. AT&T responded by asking to withdraw its merger application from the FCC in part many observers said to prevent the commission from releasing its detailed report. The FCC has decided to grant 1830s withdrawal request but regulators are also releasing a 109 page analysis showing in great detail why they believe the merger would lead to job losses and higher prices for consumers that could hurt AT&T in its effort to get approval from the Department of Justice which is suing separately to block the deal on antitrust grounds. That case is

scheduled to go to trial in February. Joel Rose NPR News New York. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has become the first U.S. secretary of state to visit me and more also known as Burma and half a century. She is there to test the new government's commitment to reform including severing military and nuclear ties with North Korea. I'm Louise Schiavone NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from the Wallace Foundation a source of ideas for improving education added Richmond for children both in and out of school at Wallace Foundation dot org. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley. Well the numbers tell the story. Shoppers spent tens of billions of dollars on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It was a happy surprise for sellers who've been trying to survive in a tough economy. But while the big box stores are reaping retail gold local charities are trying to cope with a

significant drop in giving. Even as the numbers of folks who need their services grows. Joining me to talk about how are local charities and nonprofits are doing in this unstable economy are Ellen Parker executive director of Project bread. Joe Finn executive director of the Massachusetts housing and shelter alliance. And Paul shore vish director for the Center on wealth and philanthropy at Boston College. Thank you all for joining us. Great to have you here Kelly. Paul I'm going to start with you. What are the numbers and how significant a drop are we talking about let's say from this year two of five years ago. Well we look back to 2000 and seven. We had about two hundred and twenty billion dollars being given in today's dollars across the nation by individuals. But that drop in 2008 2009 2010 and what we speculate using our model for

2011 would mean that over those five years there has been if if there if the trend had continued from 2007 onwards up as it has been for 25 years if that trend continued and that instead of that we've had to scrap we have lost about two hundred and thirty seven billion dollars in charitable giving just by individuals which is pretty much the whole amount given in 2000. Didn't So we've lost all four years of charitable giving over the last five years. What do your statistics tell you about the reasons why. Well we know the reasons why. And then there's financial reasons. And then there is the psychological reasons that emerge from them. The financial reasons have to do clearly with the drop in the economy. The great recession as we call it. But

secondly we have to realize that as a result of that at the upper end where you can measure financial security there has been a growth in financial insecurity. And at the very top about 40 percent of the charitable giving giving is being done by the top four or five percent of the population. But. Even among common folk like us the studies show that when we think that there is a less bright future for our economic life for our family's economic life and we all know people for whom this is true even if our particular family isn't suffering right now we still feel that insecurity and those people in the usual general range of the income from down at the bottom to about 200000 they to cut back on their charitable giving. One more point. We're finding this true finally in terms of giving to

churches at the first part of the Great Recession churches remained stable or grew a little bit in their charitable giving. Now we're finding even the churches are decline. Ellen Parker executive director of Project bread. You're on the frontlines of hunger. And when Paul talks about financial insecurity you're dealing with a different kind of insecurity known as food insecurity in your business but hunger to the rest of us. Here's some stats for people to keep in their minds. One in eight people right now use food banks 15 percent use food stamps. And in the New York Times story today just today articulated the huge jump in the number of kids enrolled and free school lunch programs. What does it look like here in Massachusetts. So here in Massachusetts it's so interesting to hear or hear Paul's comments because the financial security it's like ripples in a pond. And for the poorest people they're most affected so we have many more people who are

food insecure. I have really begun to think of food insecurity as simply the families of Massachusetts who are struggling to make ends meet really struggling. So as some of them were more comfortable and have gone down I mean it it's just very interesting to look at the entire population and to see that there are more and more people at the bottom struggling right now there are ten point eight percent of the people in Massachusetts are food insecure which means that there's somewhere in the vicinity of 700000 families who are really struggling to make ends meet. And we help them in a variety of ways. Now by all accounts Project Red is a is a successful nonprofit. But how has the drop in charitable giving that Paul articulated across the board affected you specifically. We've seen a drop of about 6 percent in our giving from last year and at the same time the demand for help is up very substantially and one one number is we have a food source hotline where people call from all over Massachusetts.

Those calls have gone up from thirty six thousand to nearly 50000 in two years. But we not only give out help in terms of food pantries or soup kitchens we also try to really move the lever on the population so we're very engaged in improving the quality of school food for low income kids. We're looking at more sustainable solutions. Like market based solutions food co-ops school food. As ways for people to be able to depend on assistance over the long term. What do people say when they call in to the hotline and you've just said that a number of people that the numbers of people in the has increased substantially over the last couple of years when they call into this anonymous hotline to express their need for help to get some food. What are they telling you. Some people say I'm so ashamed I'm so ashamed I could never speak to anyone in person about this. Other people say I am so desperate I don't have anything to feed my kids.

Other people say I want to know if I'm eligible for food stamps. I don't know if I want to be a which makes me feel like I'm really in bad shape or I don't want to be which makes me feel like I have no hope. It's a you know low income people as everyone knows are a very diverse group themselves there are people who are there for a couple years. There are people who are chronically poor We've had a huge increase in the number of kids between the ages of 18 and 30 who don't have a job don't have a place to go. And are homeless and hungry and I mean those kinds of problems to me are problems that have to be studied very closely because we just can't we can't let this happen to even a piece of a generation of our children. So Joe fan you are the executive director of the Massachusetts housing and shelter Alliance and what we those of us who are shut down here in the world know anecdotally is that the numbers of homeless people has increased. And those

numbers may be include people who were not in the low income category that Ellen just mentioned. But people who before were able to take care of themselves. Well there's there's good news and bad news on the homeless front in the sense that the numbers as as you indicate particularly on the family side there's been significant increases. But at the same time in the Commonwealth particularly with unaccompanied adults that's the primary focus of the Massachusetts housing and shelter alliance. They've been we. What do you mean by that. Unaccompanied companie adults are homeless persons without children. OK. People that we see on the streets that are around the commonwealth. There's actually been dramatic reductions in the number of street homeless. There's been freed up shelter capacity for long term shelter users who've been moved along on the individual adult side. Oftentimes shelters were masking the fact that that what they had become was the acceptable housing that for some of the poorest and most disabled persons in the Commonwealth. But providers have kind of made a paradigm shift and have made a

move towards directing more resources towards permanent supportive housing and targeting that population and moving those people out. At the same time people are starting to find and I think it goes to your point about people who haven't been seen in the past is that the recession does have some impact particularly as it regards unemployment and housing that persons who may have never been homeless before are starting to show up at that homeless store and again always in terms of homelessness about 80 percent of the people who pass through the adult shelters are only there once it's a short term economic and social crisis. But again there seems to be an uptick around the state with those particular people while at the same time we've dramatically dropped the numbers of chronic homeless within those shelters. Joe here's something that I think anybody can understand. Maybe it's hard for people to see who's hungry Massachusetts though these days you wonder about that.

But you really understand homelessness. So why is it tough then to get you know money giving coming you know regularly toward a problem like that. I mean we're talking across the board there's a drop but with homelessness I would think that people say OK I can see them or I may know of someone. I mean it has a residence. Well I think Kelly again you're on to something I would have to defer to Paul in terms of his methodology and really indicating what overall trends are towards towards giving is as the shelter community experience it obviously the recession has had a great impact on private foundations and corporate foundations and corporate giving generally so that people have seen some drops organizations have seen in that that. But interestingly enough at the same time many of my member providers across the state have indicated that they've seen an uptick in individual donors and particularly small donors often times which is I think indicative of the very phenomenon that you're alluding to is that. People

see this and identify this and many people believe that they could easily be affected or impacted by this. And many ways and so when times get tough I think they have a tendency people are generally good and they have a tendency to support programs such as such as this. I think that the one thing that Paul points out that I think we need to be cautious about and proceeding is we could be in that same category as those faith communities however that if the money isn't there it isn't there. And gradually that could begin to impact us as well. Paul let's go back to that point about the drop in church giving. What do you ascribe that. I mean we've talked about people feeling insecure financially and you know there's a lot of people who are unemployed but I look at the tens of billions of dollars that was just accrued. People are running over each other to spend money I know that's a small piece of the population but obviously some people are making choices. And I wonder what the drop in church giving is about that's kind

of interesting. I think if it's about the same the very same thing let me suggest that the drop in church giving may be related to something we did and discovered when we did the Boston area diary study. In this connection to what Joe was getting at by maybe not seeing as many individual homeless because shelters but there's what we've talked about so far is a form of philanthropy that is the good works. The special care that is done in or through charitable organizations. But we did a study of the personal care that people provide for each other across the Boston area. We talk to 43 individuals one time a week for 13 months. And my colleague John Havens headed up this project. And what we discovered is that while these people when you ask them carefully about what they give formally to

charity turned out to be giving almost to the penny what the average was in the nation. But. Over and above that they provided five times more in goods in housing in automobiles in the food in school close to family members in need. And so while we're talking about all this greater need we're talking about what comes to the surface and becomes visible to formal profit for formal nonprofit organization. But behind that are families who are supporting each other more and more during these times. So that over and above what we're hearing about for Project bread or for the Alliance for shelter we have to realize that people are donating five times more now for a wedding present not inheritances not Christmas presents but for their family members and friends in need.

Mainly family members. And so this is another whole arena of care that is always there in our society. But I am sure has been stepped up in the last four or five years. And this would affect were some of the church monies going as people care for those in their clothes. All right. Much more to go on the other side of the break. We are talking about how our local charities are fairing in these tough economic times. We're also looking at how an unstable economy affects how much money people donate to charities. We'll continue the conversation after the break. Keep your dial on WGBH Boston Public Radio. This program is made possible thanks to you. And UMass Memorial Medical Center and their Euro gynecology team specializing in surgical and nonsurgical solutions for urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor disorders. White papers online at UMass Memorial dot org slash for women. And Max Robin the

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director of the Massachusetts housing and shelter alliance. And Paul sure of ish. He's a director for the Center on wealth and philanthropy at Boston College. I pull out this quote from The New York Times article that I referred to in the last segment. This is about the staggering increase in the number of kids being signed up for free lunches. Just a indication of how tough it is in this economy. And parents signing up children say I never thought a program like this would apply to me and my kids. So one of the organizers talking about it and I think that's two of the things that have come out of this conversation so far is that there are lots of folks that. Didn't are availing themselves of services that didn't ever expect to be doing so and they are doing so because they have less income in their own households so they have less to give. So it's a circle here as that just gets worse and worse and I think the devastating

statistic that Paul mentioned about one year of donations really having gone away in the significant drop in the last five years is quite amazing. So the question both L-N to you and to Joe is what does that look like when you have lost those funds. I mean it's hard enough on a regular basis when you have the kind of funding that might have been available and said 2007 when it was a little healthier when people were giving but now talking about the significant drop. What do you do to keep going what kind of services do you have to cut Joe. What kind of adjustments do you have to make do you have to turn away people. What are the realities. Well you know again as I was listening to Paul particularly the stress that families have as donors themselves and the support they provide I think that the first thought that came to mind is that quite often it's stated almost in the form of an ideology that we should rely more and more on the private

sector in order to meet these particular social needs. And quite honestly given those numbers it's clear that the need far surpasses even when it's at its best of times for private philanthropy to meet those needs. And so it strikes me that the public sector that the state and federal governments have some responsibility in terms of trying to address these specific needs and fortunately here in Massachusetts there had been significant commitments of public dollars directed towards easing the impact of homelessness. In Massachusetts on the individual side that what's what's so interesting is that. Again we've just spent the past five years we have a 30 percent reduction in individual homelessness because we were finally dealing with a population who on average could be homeless had been in shelters for up to four five years. And we have moved that particular population into permanent supportive housing and

into better settings. And so I think that that same targeting in imagination now needs to apply in this time of scarcity to figure out how to best utilize those public dollars to have the greatest impact. And again in terms of how to integrate those private dollars the same thing to be be certain that we're demonstrating that there are some positive outcomes that support that we receive. But you know with regard to public funding I mean I think it's clear that all the states Massachusetts is has not been able to escape even though we're doing better than other places. There are some big cuts that have happened there have been because of this but surprisingly enough not on the homeless side they just approved a supplemental budget for a family homelessness not individuals to the tune of one hundred seventy five million dollars and that overall when you think that that will serve somewhere in the proximity of 5000 families that's a pretty staggering number in terms of the the public investment in the issue of homelessness.

It's a little more complicated on the unaccompanied adult side because. We've never been to those agencies have never been funded at 100 percent they've always been these unique partnerships between public and individual or entities that in order to meet that need. Most shelters it's not in our blood to turn people away for the most part right. You know at one time when we were facing some public cuts we had we made a very hard decision at one point to say no more we'd have to take beds down. But generally you know we've been reducing capacity across the state with less. We've been level funded on the public side for a decade. OK. So Ellen when Joe talks about an increase in support for family homelessness that strikes right at the heart of where you are because that's a recognition that there are kids involved. And we're talking about as you mentioned the kids really being hit the hardest at this. In this tough economy and with and when donations go down so how

do you adjust to what happens now that you are missing the kind of funding that gave you a little bit of foundation in the past. So there's really a couple of kinds of funding I think we need to look at the picture in its entirety. The story that you cited in The Times today project bread's been very very engaged in actually encouraging and Rollman for among low income kids in school meals were engaged in the Lawrence Chelsea's sale in Boston making those meals healthier. From the perspective of a mom and a dad being able to count on the school to provide two healthy meals with federal funding in place it's a it's a good good prevention against hunger so I guess I look at it as a really as Joe said really being more creative. There are there are projects out there like urban agriculture What is it to people can grow some vegetables in a community maybe to increase some employment in a community that you need to. I think we really need to start

looking at answers to hunger as community truly community based truly community integrated because the. The the very traditional idea of just giving away food in communities is simply not. It's just not sustainable. It's low income people belong when they want. They should go food shopping in the grocery store like everybody else we should have two different kinds of way to get ways to get food and from a public health perspective I think the one one thing that joins all of us around hunger is that it's a public health issue. So if people are unwell because they're not getting the right nutrition that's something that impacts every single one of us in the state. And it is really incumbent on all of us to to focus on creative good solutions that are really sustainable in communities and that make a community and a person bigger when they receive help rather than diminishing them.

Now as I've said often hungers for some is a hidden thing even though these days it's not so much because there are so many more people that need food and cannot get to the end of the month and particularly families who are trying to feed children. So you have a ready way I think of making people who might be donors understand the mission if you will. And is that key to try to keep the dollars that you do have coming in from individuals and even I suppose from corporations to help them see the story and see the impact. What what makes people give at this point when some people obviously have made a decision not to. I think that there's a group of people who get a large group of people who give to project bread because they are very moved and touched by the fact that children and families and single individuals are hungry. And it's it's a basic human need. It's something we all can imagine. I think there's another group of people who give to us and it's a quite large group because they see Project red as a systems changing organization.

They see us as an organization that doesn't simply alleviate hunger despite the fact that that's extremely important but also seeks to to find solutions that will really end hunger in a community. So I think that both and particularly Massachusetts I think there are both kinds of givers to project right. Paul has there been a shift in you you mentioned a psychological shift in the way that givers think about organizations they will support. Ellen has just made the compelling statement about why people are drawn to project Brit. And I think looking in the faces of those families who are hungry is quite moving. I think Joe has said you know do you want to have individuals and or families on the street because they have no place to live. That seems to me to be also a compelling story. But obviously there's a drop so people are making choices sometimes based out of their own financial situation Other times they're just making choices not to. So what what moves people to give in tough times.

I'll tell you one thing Joe. I bet you they each have a T-shirt with the word why not it with a x 3. I don't hear any whining but I hear what I hear it's drawing characters inviting other people to be strong characters to meet the needs of people who are like them. If you don't mind I'll quote Aristotle Aristotle said a friend. Those that we are nourished by and those we seek to nourish. And this can be in our family and it can be in wider search he says. A friend is another myself and both Joe and Alan in their communication to their donors and in their communication to state legislators they are making the case that the people that are in need are like the don't. Their goal for Joe and Alan is to become transparent. It's not like when Katrina hit that I gave money

to the Red Cross or I gave money to a Catholic charity. No I gave money to the people through the right through Catholic charity. And you can hear Joe and Ellen making that point not formally the way I make it but they're saying that their organizations are tools so that others can do good. It's not that they are doing good only the donors are doing that and the more they can show the connection they say thank your donors seven times. I say show the connection to the consequent to your donors haven't and that's the spirit they're showing. And you see we can have this terrible sense of scarcity right now but listen to the abundance in their tone. Listen to the fact that people are helping and we do have to understand that despite the drop that I spoke about five hundred and eighty

million dollars a day is given to charity and large. Part of that goes to our church is the next part goes to education and the next part to health and social services get a smaller part of that five hundred and eighty million dollars a day. But there is still something dynamic that we can draw on. We're not sheep without a shepherd. And we've heard a couple of the shepherds talk to us today about how they are nourishing the sheep and how they are inviting others to nourish. And I don't mean sheep in a negative that I mean in the biblical sense the people. And so how does it happen. It happens by showing that these other people are you. Are me are themselves and even the people that have never been hungry over a long period know what it's like to be hungry for a day probably or up on a hill and forget your lunch

to everybody. Knows that feeling. Everybody knows the feeling of what it will be like not to have a place. And so these two areas of basic need I think have a vibrant present. Just think of all the increased need and it is being met completely but it is remarkable to me. I'm sorry to be so optimistic. It is remarkable to me that as much is being done as well I think part of the if I may I'm not the expert and I want to get you all to weigh in on this that part of the optimism or the end or the continued enthusiasm for those who do give is what you said recognizing and feeling connected but also feeling as though whatever small thing they can give makes a difference and I going to refer to the action from Boston Community Development ABC TV's winter program they have a winter emergency campaign on because in

Massachusetts everybody knows what it's like what it's like to be cold. And they are trying to fund fuel assistance. And it's a dire circumstance this year for all the reasons we've talked about this hour. And they have 16000 applications in house right now for people who know they're going to need fuel assistance. But here's what they put in their press release which I thought is something that is articulated. People can relate to. $25 buys groceries for a family $50 holiday toys for three toddlers This is for the entire campaign not just for fuel assistance. Seventy dollars will buy a warm winter coat and boots and gloves for a child and three hundred fifty will buy one 100 gallons of oil and that's enough to keep a family warm for a short time. So you know maybe you yourself don't have three hundred fifty dollars or maybe you get three friends $100 and one with 50 and there you go. It seems as they broke it down in a way to be relatable to people and also Paul if I may get all of you to

weigh in on this. When people feel that they can see the difference it seems to me that's encouragement. Ellen for people to give. Absolutely. I'm sitting here Kauai thinking about Project Brad's very special event which we have every year which is the walk for hunger. Forty thousand people in Massachusetts come out and they raise nearly four million dollars. And you know Cali those donations those are big donations those are $10000 donations there on average somewhere between 100 100 and $10. We have people who walk who have used food pantries in the past and are doing better. We have guys from various detox programs who have used Project bread services. We have religious people we have parents kids grandchildren colleagues. It is everybody out there together. A I think that we all want to be part of something that's bigger than ourselves and we want to make a difference and we want to help. And I for me

that's that's a it's always an inspiration. And I was just sitting here thinking about that because Walker hunger actually allows every person regardless of income we have many many kids who give to $5 but get there they walk the entire way because they want to stand up and they want to say there's hunger in our community. And it matters to me and I'm going to walk 20 miles and I'm going to show the world that there's one more kid that cares about this. And Joe for you does that that that could make that feeling that you can see the difference. So again and I should also point out at this time of course Ellen is one of my heroes to begin with because of her focus on systems change and how. BUT IT projects bed bread not only supports those families and individuals in distress they also provide some of the infrastructure of shelters and programs across the state as well to to meet some of their needs. But to me. The Joes not only unaccompanied adults from a marketing perspective they're not always

Again the the group that people feel most compelled to give to it sometimes but the truth is what we've been able to indicate is the incredible costs to all of us by leaving people on the street whether it's costs to Medicaid whether it's cost to health care systems across all systems of care. It's affecting all of us and our wallets as taxpayers as well to not address this problem is really a cost associated with doing nothing. And we've been effective from that perspective not that we're giving people warm and fuzzy feelings necessarily about what they're doing but recognizing that there are more positive outcomes to things than we might be expending even public dollars on today. And that's kind of what we've tried to do to generate support not only for our work but for the work of our 90 some members across the state who are really trying to end the necessity of or the state's reliance on emergency resources to deal with this population.

As we conclude this conversation just a little round robin here a response from each of you. What do you say to people now in the season of giving about their wanting them to think about giving at this particularly hard time for nonprofits and charities. I say to people the people that I talk to who are hungry are food insecurity need help. They want a hand up not a handout. And they might need something right now and it's in your power in my power to give it to them. And I think that they're just going to turn around next year when they get on their feet and they're going to be part of the donor community too. Joe I think Paul summed up one of the things I tried to say the most just think you know to the people who are willing to support these this work and and to listen to the to the benefit. I mean it's easy if you have a member of your family who's mentally ill and just out there or you have someone who's suffering from addiction you can empathize and understand. But all of us need to understand that

there's a greater cost for leaving this problem unaddressed. We preach that and we promote that. But again with those donors it's thank you for your support is critical. Paul last word this time a year. Being a religious person not initially a good person. I experience and teach my students and my kids and my family that experience is not so much about first giving it's first about the experience of having received and that is what makes us understand blessing in our lives. Yes gratitude and blessing gifting gratitude that it is softening of the heart and that is the beginning in its fullest and rich experience. Well I'm grateful to all of you for bringing insight to this conversation. Thank you all so much. Thank you Kelly. Thank you. We've been talking about how these tough financial

times and how they're affecting the charities more and more people are turning to. I've been speaking with Ellen Parker executive director of Project bread. Joe Finn executive director of the Massachusetts housing and shelter alliance. And Paul service director for the Center on wealth and philanthropy at Boston College. Up next it's a good news story that's emerged from these hard times. We'll meet some of the folks in Central Falls Rhode Island who helped save a library after the city went bankrupt. We'll be back after this break stay with us. WGBH programs exist because of you. And a quarter of a Sculpture Park and

Museum presenting Andy Goldsworthy snow. You can learn more about the court of his efforts to bring snow households where these proposed installation for the Cordova to the sculpture park at de Cordova dot org. And Skinner auctioneers and appraisers. People not infrequently will say hey I hear you guys and of the AGP age. Stephen Fletcher executive vice president it's benefiting us because WGBH brings so much to all of us. It's good for business but it's bigger good and it's something that we're proud of to learn how WGBH can benefit your business. Visit WGBH dot org slash sponsorship. I'm Lisa Mullins PR eyes the world brings you more than just those news. Well the poor old British public has been around for 2000 years. We introduce you to people around the globe. I'm going to do a Bob but I figure if we wary only only in Argentina I think is a Scottish thing you know the sense of doom they have but it's always kind of amusing to us. Join us and hear the world. Coming up at 3 o'clock period eighty nine

point seven WGBH. This season I get the most out of your gift giving by placing a bit during the Third Annual WGBH holiday auction. Name your price on one of a kind getaway. Beautiful jewelry and other unique gifts. All while supporting public broadcasting at the same time this year's big ticket item is a fully loaded 2011 Saab 9 4 x premium SUV with cross wheel drive donated by your New England Saab dealer visit auctioned on WGBH dot org. Great question. That is a great question and that's a great question. It's a great question. Rick great question on FRESH AIR. You'll hear unexpected questions and unexpected answers this afternoon at 2 here on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Cally Crossley. When Central Falls Rhode Island declared bankruptcy last summer the state was aiming to shut down the Adams Memorial Library. But

residents rallied to save this 100 year old institution and they've succeeded. Joining me to talk about what it took to spare this library from the chopping block are Tom Shanahan acting director of the Adams Memorial Library and George garner a volunteer at the library. Thank you both for joining us. Thank you for having. Tom let's start with you. So the town goes bankrupt and it stands to reason that many community organizations are going to be hit. And so they say they're going to close down the library. What happened next to bring it back to life. While I was the director there from 1989 to 2004 and then I joined the Adams board which is the board that actually owns the building when the city close ally of the board decided to reopen it again using volunteers. And so far it's worked out very well.

Well there's a big gap from OK we're going to use volunteers and it's going to be nice to see how it's worked out very well. I mean what did it take. Well I started I started asking everybody I knew basically in the city. We did a thing in the paper. I just tried to rally a core group of people who would willingly come in. We only had a couple of weeks to put things together because we had an arrangement was a with the Petaca library which is a next community to us. And to the end of July and so we were kind of under a mandate to open the first of August so as not to have any lapse of library service. So I started off with maybe half a dozen people who came in. Fortunately most of them are still with me. But the notoriety and the publicity has certainly helped us not only with contributions but with additional people coming forth and

volunteering. Well I want to get to that in just a second but I'm interested in specifically what you had to do what you know what did you assign. Remember these are volunteer so they weren't you know experts in library ship. That is you have been strewed but they're fairly intelligent people so you know that we did have to you know by completely different software package and you know incorporate that and so we're all on the same page we're all learning a new system. We just work side by side to make that happen and it's we we will be rejoining the consortium in libraries in fact tomorrow is the first day that residents will basically shut out from using any other library in the state. But that's going to change as of the first of this of December because

now our cards will be honored and we will be in the next couple of weeks connecting reconnecting to the state consortium again. So what you're referring to is that you know right now if I take my library card I can connect to it if I want to borrow a book and they look up and say oh well it's in Watertown they can get it for me because we're part of a network. And when you all went all volunteer just to save the library you weren't part of the network but now you'll be rejoining a network. If that's Iraq OK a lot of that has to come with the publicity. You know the Dan Barry article in The New York Times and you know a lot of local TV stations overrun different stories on us. And it's it's kept us in the forefront. It's allowed a number of people to learn the story and to make contributions and like I said. More volunteers are coming forward. George you were one of those volunteers that read about it after the publicity

and decided that you would be one of the volunteers how did that happen. Well basically I'm a musician without a day job which meant that I was having lunch one day in a restaurant and I glanced in through the Providence Journal and I saw a small article on the situation at Tom's library and I guess it hit me because it's you know as a kid I would I had always been one of those kids that you know likes to read and spent a lot of my childhood at the local library. And it just seemed completely wrong to me for a community not to have a public library. And I can't put it in that. It just seemed wrong. You know you're supposed to have a fire department a police department a town hall and a library. So it wasn't even so I just got up you know finished lunch and basically went to see Tom and I spoke to him and I've been the volunteer and I've sensed. And what's it been like. Well it's been in reference to a question about you know how they how we got things

done learning on the job. I mean you know I sat down at the desk you know do this this this and this and it's on the job training. I was I would say a couple of months in I'm a pretty fair librarian at this point. You know what I'm interested in and I know that everybody would be too is what are people saying when they come into the library how much is it use now that you guys keep the doors open. Well I'll tell you my impression is that you know it's used by a moderate number of people. First of all it takes time for word to get around that the library is back open because there was a big you know there was a big to do made about the fact it was cool. But it's a step by step process to reacquaint the community with the fact that we're open. But you know traffic is increasing. You know more every week. And I'll tell you it's like the longer I'm there the more I appreciate the fact you know the wonderful thing that Tom and his board of directors of done in keeping this

open. Because it's actually you know a library is different things for different communities in Barrington it's a luxury in the east side of Providence it's a luxury because you know these kids have video game systems they have as many DVDs as they need. They have Internet access. Most of the families in poor communities like Central Falls. It's not a given that they have these things. So for a lot of these people the library is their internet connection that source for DVDs the way they find it the other way they keep plugged into the greater community. So when you look around in the library the people are coming in to to to to do the various things that they do. Are there families there are there trying to get a sense of who's who's in the group of people who are actively using it. Well it's a diversified group. We have you know parents bringing in small children. We have high school kids coming in to do their homework. You

know we have older patrons you know who are coming in actually and checking out you know works of literature and reference books that we've had a couple of people stop in just because they're doing historical research on their family tree or rom the history of Rhode Island or the city. It's a diversified group I mean I can't you know I can't say OK we have a certain demographic coming in because a community is what you said it's a community. Right. That's great Exactly. Yeah they have been very supportive. They understand what's going on. And they've been patient whether speak us or basically we had to issue everybody a new library card for the new system. They've been very. And it is fun fun because we really haven't had any. And yes years we've been able to meet most of demand this is of course now that we'll be rejoining We'll be back in the system again but

interim I must say that I was pleased that all the volunteers stepped up to learn the system and you know just everything meshed. You know now well if you have a point. Oh go ahead. I was just going to point out that I like as you mentioned it's almost a that's a good way to put it it's a team outfit between the volunteers and the people of the community. I mean you know they have been patient with us you know all the volunteers the learning the job you know the people the community our patrons have been very patient and very supportive and very helpful as a matter of fact in all every way possible. It's a team effort between the library volunteers and Tom's board of directors and the community. Both of you mentioned the amount of notice and attention that the library the closing and the reopening by the volunteers has gotten. One of the big pieces was in the New York Times which brought you a big donation from a well-known person $10000 from actor Alec Baldwin. Were you surprised Tom

Shanahan. Yes we were. When Joel told me the news I was very surprised. We actually received three $10000 donations. The first one was anonymous The second one was for most of Baldwin and the last one was from a woman and Westchester who had grown up in Rhode Island and had seen the New York Times article Dan Barry who works for the Providence Journal and received an award from the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council for his book The Longest baseball game played at Petaca Rhode Island home of the thirty third while he was visiting came up to receive the award. He interviewed General and general analyst who's the chair of the Adamant board and myself and that was the basis for the article in The Times and I just didn't realize at the time it's you know where the Internet is read all over the country and we were getting donations from California from Maine from Texas from Maryland. I mean it's it

was absolutely amazing the power of the press you know and I'm sure we're hoping the radio does the same thing. Absolutely. Well I love the library. I'm thrilled for all of your efforts there. Last words with seconds to go. Why do you think people just love the library enough to you know really put themselves on the line for it in this way. Well for me you know in a poor community like Central Falls is equal access to information in a free society. That's what makes this all equal and to give some of these kids a chance to make a life for themselves I think is is is why we're doing what we're doing. And for you George why do you think people like you come to save the library in the way that you did. I think because it's a place where you can go and feel welcome you know. I remember it you know from when I was a kid walk

into the library and having that warm feeling of welcome and I'm just glad that we can you know give the kids the coming they know the same feeling. Well I'm glad you can too because I think the library is very important and I totally agree with you George. It is the heart of the community. And I'm very impressed about what you all have done their instant profiles library. So tomorrow big day you rejoined the network and then onward and upward. You're close to closing the gap right with the money so that'll be good. Yes well we could we could always use a little helpful along the way. I know about $50000 of all things. We are we are moving forward. Thank you Kelly for this opportunity to spread the word. Thank you both. We've been talking about what it took to save the Adams Memorial Library in Central Falls Rhode Island. I've been joined by Tom Shanahan acting director of the Adams Memorial Library and George doner a volunteer at the library. You can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash

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