The economy brings us home and helps us to do more with less.
As I look at the two quiches, a curry dish, Dutch stew and a pot of chili cooling on my kitchen counter, it occurs to me that I owe this evening of meal preparation to the current state of the economy. The cause of my cooking frenzy was my refrigerator which lost power for over a day. Apparently a breaker tripped while we were out of town and the fridge was off.
Some would say that the prudent thing to do would be to throw away all the meat and other things that could spoil. That would probably the entire contents of my fridge because if it doesn't spoil why would I put it in there? However, I can't bring myself to toss all the food. You see, only recently have I started coupon shopping again-something I haven't done for over 10 years. It was the norm in the early days of my marriage some 27 years ago. In those days we had very little money for food, gas and other bills. Coupons were the way to make ends meet...as was coasting from the street corner into our driveway and eating simple meals at home.
Doing more with less
That brings me back to the hours of cooking I just completed. Many of the ingredients that went into these dishes were purchased on sale and with the aforementioned coupons. No way I wanted to throw the food out because my fridge went out for a few hours. Not after all the effort of clipping and printing coupons (I even signed up for Coupon Mom) and really paying attention to the grocery stores circulars again. Granted that I always was partial to sales but I usually participated in those in the store as I was purchasing the groceries I needed. Sadly I did not care about the cost of the food that much. Now I plan the grocery purchases and the stores I go to. The slow down in the economy, the higher gas prices, the drop in the stock market...it requires me to be wiser about how to spend money. I need to cut costs and stretch the dollars. There's just less money to go around.
Charities feel the stretch
That's what charities are finding too. USA Today reported that it's a hard time to be a charity.
"The economic crisis threatening the nation with the worst recession in decades has set off tremors among non-profits and charities large and small that rely on donations from Wall Street, industry and average Americans." (USA Today, October 26, 2008)
The trouble for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and the Big 3 auto makers resulted in pain for various charities including United Way in Southern Michigan, Doctors without Borders, and Child and Family Network Centers of Virginia, to name a few.
- The Red Cross experienced about a 30% drop in responses and contributions from new donors.
- Catholic Charities USA reported a 4% drop over last year. Meals on Wheels indicated getting fewer donations.
- The Salvation Army reported a 9% drop in its western territory.
- Goodwill Industries International indicated a 2.3% drop in cash donations.
Ken Berger, president and CEO of Charity Navigator stated that "many charities are between a rock and a hard place, being asked to do more with less." He added that the economic crisis might have some positive effect by causing inefficient, redundant or weak charities to merge with other non-profits or shut down. This reduces the competition for contribution dollars.
I agree with Ken Berger. Semper Vita's passion is to eliminate duplication of effort and overhead. Our goal is to facilitate cooperation and collaboration among non-profits and volunteers to have an even greater impact in our communities. In short, doing more with less. Much like clipping coupons, paying attention to sales and eating home made meals. I think I made enough to share.
