Despite big downturn in donations, Merced nonprofits serve vital role during pandemic

Manuel Alvarado has a front seat to the significant financial burdens the COVID pandemic created for thousands of Merced County residents over the past year.

Case in point, Alvarado, executive director of United Way of Merced County, recently shared a story about a Livingston woman who lost her job.

Due to the economic downturn she was living out of her car. She needed help and had few places to turn. To her relief, Alvarado was able to help her by providing revenue so she could pay her bills.

It was one gesture, but it made a big difference. As Alvarado explains it, such residents are examples of people who had been working full-time, but ended up in a tough spot during the COVID pandemic.

“She’s now presently in a home with two other couples, and her significant other,” Alvarado said. “We went to Costco and I bought her some linens for a bed, and she was absolutely delighted, too. Her partner said he took three showers the first day he was (at the shared house) because he hadn’t been able to bathe in quite some time.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, leaders of local nonprofits say those kinds of stories have become more frequent. Despite the increased demand for services, however, those nonprofits say the donations have dropped significantly.

At the United Way in Merced, for example Alvarado said campaign revenues are down by 47 percent since the pandemic started.

Ryan Miller, corps officer for the Salvation Army in Merced, said demand for its services has increased 500 percent since the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Salvation Army’s donations are down locally by $80,000.

The Salvation Army had to reduce staff hours by 25 percent from April to October because of the economic decline and for the safety of staff. “The immediate transformation to virtual programs has resulted in cost savings,” he said.

“We are very grateful to our many donors and prayer partners who have empowered us to be able to continue serving the community more than ever before.”

Although donations are down, Miller and others say the community support they have gotten during the pandemic gave them the ability to continue to serve.

“It’s a huge lesson of just (how) the Merced community is awesome and when something happens we can pull together and help each other out and just be there for one another,” he said.

Poverty and the pandemic

While the COVID pandemic certainty is not solely responsible for poverty in Merced County, it certainly didn’t help the situation.

The impact of the pandemic on Merced County’s economy is evident by last year’s unemployment numbers. Before the beginning of the pandemic, the county in January had an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent, according to the state Employment Development Department.

By April, state-mandated orders attempted to control the virus’s snowballing spread by shutting down businesses deemed nonessential. Merced County’s joblessness bolted sharply to 18.7% — the highest monthly figure in years, bringing the county to Great Recession levels of joblessness.

Merced County ultimately closed out 2020 with unemployment worsening to 11.5% for the month of December, according to EDD data released on Friday. That means the county’s 113,600-person labor force had 13,100 unemployed as of December. Local joblessness was notably lower in December 2019 at 7.9%.

According to the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey, roughly 17% of Merced County’s population lives in poverty, although some estimates have put that percentage over 20%. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated $26,200 was the total annual household income for a family of four in poverty in 2020.

Miller said he’s heard no shortage of average, everyday Mercedians who’ve faced dire circumstances during the pandemic.

In doing what they can to address homelessness, some Salvation Army employees have done street-level outreach — visiting people in the streets, in parks, under bridges, and other common areas.

The goal is to connect folks with resources offered by the Salvation Army and their partners, like the county’s Help Hub.

The Help Hub is a one-stop shop that gives residents the option to request food, financial assistance or donate to other non profits in the area.

Fortunately, even with the economic blow of the pandemic, many nonprofits have been able to hang onto their employees. The United Way, Salvation Army don’t have too many employees and they haven’t had to let anyone go — though some workers were infected with the virus.

That didn’t stop any of the services they provided. Thus far, United Way has served over 119,170 people, 38,318 families and 28 percent of residents who have low-incomes. The Salvation Army in Merced has served 7,853 households during the pandemic.

Robert Hypes, United Way of Merced community impact manager, said COVID-19 relief has been the organization’s primary mission since March last year.

United Way has provided rent and utility relief to families and helps school districts like Planada Elementary and Delhi Unified who have families who are in need of food assistance.

Coming together during crisis

Monika Grasley, executive director of LifeLine Community Development Corporation, said fortunately she hasn’t needed to eliminate services in the past year.

LifeLine is a small nonprofit whose focus is helping those experiencing homelessness get back on their feet, helping families with financial burdens, and providing food assistance in partnership with the Merced County Food Bank. LifeLine’s goal is to offer a hand up rather than a hand out.

“More people are coming in for updating their resumes, learning how to use a computer, doing job searches,” Grasley said.

Grasley said she’s amazed to see how the community came together in camaraderie to support one another and lift spirits during the pandemic.

She described how many lower income folks have come up with creative solutions to get necessary items when they weren’t available. Some examples included bartering flour for toilet paper (during last year’s infamous toilet paper shortage), providing meals to their neighbors in quarantine, or helping one another with transportation issues.

“They make things work because they’re used to not having what is needed,” she said.

Although adapting to the pandemic hasn’t been easy, many nonprofit leaders say its provided valuable lessons for how they serve others.

Alvarado called the pandemic “a curveball” that allowed him to remember to never take anything for granted.

It’s also reinforced the idea there’s strength in numbers, when it comes to working together as a team to help those who need it most.

Hypes shared similar thoughts, saying he’s shocked by how easily a person can lose their job.

Hypes said when United Way helps people affected by the pandemic, they strive to keep in mind how hard it can be for a single mother who lost her job, or parents who are worried about how they’ll feed their kids.

“I think there’s this weird concept sometimes of what homelessness is,” Hypes said. “It gets attributed sometimes to mental illness or drugs, and sometimes we forget there is a large section of people that are just working as hard as they can, but still living paycheck to paycheck.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 11:30 AM.