I wanted to spread the word a little bit about one of the organizations, Bread for the City, serving DC's poor and indigent residents.  Bread for the City provides, among others, a food pantry, social services, a medical clinic, and a legal clinic for residents who would not otherwise have access to these necessary services.

For those of you who don't know, the economic downturn has severely hurt many non-profits as funding sources dry up, and in some cases simply disappear.  As people lose their jobs and stock values drop, there is less disposable income available to charitable organizations. Of course, that's not the whole story: At least one non-profit funder, the JEHT Foundation, simply closed its doors when Bernie Madoff was found out. 

Although I do not know the sources of Bread for the City's funding, I do know that it is facing significant reductions in its budget.  They had to make some tough choices, and this was their response: 

• Starting on April 1, 2009, staff salaries will be reduced by 10% and management salaries by 12%.

• To allow our staff some flexibility to adapt to these changes, Bread for the City will be closed for client services on Fridays. Our new operational schedule for both Centers will be Monday through Thursday, from 9am to 5pm.

• In September, some staff positions will revert to a stipend volunteer capacity.

Read that first one again.  These are people who have made the choice to serve those who have the least.  They are not Wall Street traders.  They are not bankers.  Yet when they began to lose money, they reduced their own salaries--management more than staff--in order to keep operating. 

The irony, of course, is that as the economy worsens, Bread's services will be in greater demand.  And that is what makes the second point so difficult.  Even as important as these services are, Bread will be reducing its services in order to stay open. 

I wish I had a big point to make here; that this is somehow exemplary of the moral crisis we face, but I just don't believe that.  What I believe is that we already had intolerable levels of suffering in this country and now things have to get worse before they get better. 

Where ever you live, there is an organization like Bread for the City that is facing the same problems.  Even if there were a correct solution to the economic problems, there isn't much we can do to make President Obama and the Congress adopt that solution.  We can, however, find the local organization and do something to help.

That's all I know.