JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. -- Charity organizers across Central Indiana say requests for help and services are up this year, while donations are down.
Since the 1920s, the Good Cheer Fund of Johnson County has been assembling holiday baskets for families in need. Looking back over that period, chairman Jake Sappenfield says his group has never received more applications for help than they have this year.
For the past several years, the Good Cheer Fund has collected enough food to assemble 800 baskets. This year, though, they have more than 1,000 applications. Sappenfield knows more donations will be needed to keep up with the growing need.
“The big hindrance is money, you know?” he said. “We’ve got to raise that additional money.”
A look at the giving climate across Central Indiana this year shows donations for many organizations across the board are down.
This week, the United Way put out a call for help in funding its annual United Christmas Service. United Way organizers say they’ll need to raise another $124,000 in the next week or else more than 1,700 families that applied for help may not get it.
For more information about how you can help, visit the United Way of Central Indiana United Christmas Service or the Good Cheer Fund.
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