AS far as some charity organisations are concerned, Santa may not come this year and even if he does come, some fear his sack will not be as laden as in previous years.

This is due, in large part, to the current unstable economic climate where interest rates and food prices keep climbing while charity donations, like retail sales, are falling off. This is especially true of the Catholic brotherhood, Missionaries of the Poor, but the Bellevue drop-in centre in east Kingston and a charitable female Jamaican living overseas say the economic downturn has also affected their efforts, albeit in different ways. Unlike those three, however, Food for the Poor – which gets the bulk of its donations from the United States – said that although its food warehouse was practically empty, it was a result of the re-negotiation process with the US, rather than any economic impact.

The Missionaries of the Poor told the Sunday Observer that if the current level of donations they have been getting over the past five months is any indication, the holidays will not be so merry for the hundreds of people for whom they care. Things are so tight, they say, that they are using firewood instead of gas for cooking.

“The…donations are low, so what we’re doing now is cutting down on expenses: instead of using [gas] stoves, we are using wood both at home and at the centre. Also, at home, we’ve stopped using fans and it’s a big help,” said brother John-Paul, who spoke on behalf of Father Richard Ho Lung, who founded the mission in 1981.

“We cut off 50 per cent of food buying and then in place of meat, we use beans. If we have meat, if people give us meat, then we divide it up to make it stretch for a longer time,” he said.

The brothers have also changed their smooth fluorescent bulbs to coiled ones, have restricted calls made to cellular phones and have cut back on cooking at breakfast time.

“We use bread and cereal or other things,” said the brother.

Added Father Brian Kerr: “Things have been tougher this year for sure for the ministries. We’ve not been getting the supplies we used to get, neither in kind nor in terms of purchases.” To raise funds, the group is hosting a Christmas concert at St Richard’s Catholic church this evening.

Across town at the Bellevue drop-in centre, the economic downturn has had a different effect. Centre administrator Yvonne Grant told the Sunday Observer that while its donations have not fallen off so far, more people have registered with the programme when compared to last year, a situation which suggests that more people are becoming homeless. There are currently 485 people on Grant’s list compared to 423 last December, and this year’s figure doesn’t take into account the 25 who have either returned home or have been placed in resident places of safety.

“November was the month in which we did a lot of promotion and we haven’t seen a slow-down. Daily, we have about 65, almost 70 people, so our work is increasing and we have more mouths to feed because that’s more than double the numbers for last year.

“That’s how the economic downturn is affecting us; it’s not so much in terms of the donations, but that more people are becoming homeless,” she said.

For Audrey Bertram, who has for the past five years been sending barrels of clothes and stationery back to her hometown in Junction, St Elizabeth, the high Customs charges may mean this year’s gifts will not be cleared in time for the holidays.

“I will be visiting again in January 2009 and again, with the assistance of my friends, I was able to pack another nine barrels. I must add that even my daughter took money from her piggy bank to buy six pairs of slippers, saying that she wanted to help as well. I wanted to let some of the kids have something for their Christmas so I sent four of the barrels in October to a relative for her to distribute.

But “when my relative went to clear them, she was told the cost for duties, taxes, etc would be about J$15,000 each. I may be the ‘Jamaican Oprah’, but I simply cannot afford to pay this amount,” Bertram said, pointing out that the Customs bill last year was roughly $5,000 per barrel.

Meanwhile, two Fridays ago, CEO of operations at Food for the Poor, Ron Burgess, told the Sunday Observer that the organisation was out of food.

“Right now there is no food because the bulk of our food comes from the United States agriculture department, so a lot of people who used to get food from us won’t have any now. That portion of food is cut off not because of the economic situation but because of a lapse in the negotiation period,” he said, explaining that the 18-month contract between the two organisations ended in October and was pending renewal but was taking some time because of the US political transition.

In the interim, however, Burgess said the local FFP arm had purchased some food from its head office in Florida and was expecting to get a shipment of 850 bags of rice and 450 bags of peas tomorrow. In addition to that, Burgess said 200 tonnes of rice and milk powder from the Brazilian government as well as independent donations of tinned sausages from that country and baked beans from the US were also expected.

“It means that they [organisations to which they donate] will have food for Christmas, which seemed an impossibility at one time. They were panicking when we told them (two weeks ago) we had no food,” he said.

And although the present situation seems less than favourable, the donors expressed hope that as Christmas draws nigh, donations will be on target.

“It’s too early to say for Christmas, but hopefully the donations will be the same or even more than before because, Jamaicans are a generous people,” said brother John-Paul.