Island Harvest: donations down, demand up

Island Harvest, one of the region's largest providers of food and services for the poor and disabled, has raised $3 million this year. While chief executive Randi Shubin Dresner acknowledges that is a lot of money, she said it's not enough, because demand is so high in this still-struggling economy.

In 2010, by comparison, Island Harvest raised $3.6 million, Shubin Dresner said.

"Even if we stayed at the same level [as last year], we would not be able to keep up with demand for services, because there are so many people coming to our [soup] kitchens for help," she said.

Funds raised from events -- golf tournaments and dinners -- are down $75,000 this year. Responses to direct mail are down $10,000. Even small individual donations are down, some by $10 and others by $1.50.

Meanwhile, demand at some soup kitchens and other Island Harvest offices is up 75 percent, Shubin Dresner said.

The bad economy continues to cost Long Island jobs. Last week the state Department of Labor reported that Nassau and Suffolk had 8,600 fewer jobs in November than a year ago, the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year declines.

Mineola-based Island Harvest says it feeds about 300,000 people a year, but those are old numbers. The organization has not taken a survey of its clients in a few years and is scheduled for one in 2013. Shubin Dresner expects the number of people in need to rise.

There may be 25,000 to 50,000 more people now needing services, she said. "Those numbers wouldn't surprise me."