Charity worries about giving fatigue

The bounty gathered for Caroline & Company’s annual donation drive is displayed in the agency’s lobby. Underwear packages, bundles of socks and pajamas reach the brim of a wicker basket.

Though it’s still early for “New Socks, Undies & Jammies for Rainbow House Kids,” Barbara Carman, who heads the program, worries that their efforts will fall short.

“Donations are really small at this point,” said Carman.

Carman said that people are concerned by estimates of high gas and fuel prices this winter, and many people have already made multiple donations to hurricane relief and will be more selective in their holiday donations.

Caroline Maher, owner of Caroline and Company employment agency, began the program in 2003 because she wanted to witness first-hand results of charity.

“Writing a check just doesn’t feel like we’ve done anything, so we thought, ‘What can we do ourselves?’” Maher said.

In 2004, the 20,000 pairs of socks and underwear piled

3 feet high in the lobby and spilled out from the hall all the way to the back room. In 2003, the program’s first year, 3,500 pairs of socks were collected.

Some businesses collect supplies by setting out suitcases in lobbies, said Carman, but the program is driven primarily by individuals.

“It’s intended as something all mid-Missouri can take part in by donating one item at a time,” said Carman. “There’s such a huge need for little things that people normally take for granted.”

Carman added that items like socks and underwear don’t have the second-hand life of other items as they deteriorate from bleach or simply disappear. Diapers are also always needed because babies go through them by the thousands.

“A lot of kids come to us with whatever clothes they have on,” said Jan Stock, executive director of Rainbow House and the Child Advocacy Center. “When they leave, they get a bag on wheels with all of their new articles of clothing.”

Stock took over as executive director in October after holding a forensic interviewer position for five years with the group. Ties with Rainbow House strengthened when Stock and a partner opened a private counseling practice in 1990. Many of the children she treated for abuse and neglect came from the group.

“Simple things really make a difference in kids’ lives and we hope this program will give us enough to last through the year,” said Jamie Schwartz, a program assistant for Rainbow House.