One Brick Short

Quasimodo is dead and Old Mother Hubbard’s dog is checking out the neighbor’s yard, hitting the cat’s food dish as holiday donations dry out in Charlottesville.

The Salvation Army, which feeds and houses and clothes hundreds every day, is behind on its bell ringing, not even getting enough folks out to hit all 22 approved storefront locations. The Thomas Jefferson Area Food Bank is giving its food away as quick as it comes in and, in fact, has been working thousands of pounds short since the summer.

Even the Toy Lift has had a tough time, which brings up the only conclusion one can reach: It’s a tough economy for Central Virginia’s middle class.

It’s those of us in the middle who contribute the most to charity. We are the ones who buy toys for girls and boys. We’re the ones donating food outside of the Kroger or dropping coinage in the army kettle, fumbling for change as we push our carts to our cars. I was reminded of that during the Toy Lift as I watched Ford Explorers and Kias and Subarus and Buicks, many with child seats still strapped in the back, line up to drop off bicycles and toys.

Gee, I thought to myself as I watched the line for about an hour or so while chatting with Toy Lift volunteers, where are the Benzes and Jaguars and Range Rovers? Where are the status vehicles that prove income status? Where are the upper crust? Why is the middle and lower crust of the white bread showing up to drop off?

If we’re not giving, it might be because we’re concerned with the high cost of food; eggs increased almost 125% in 12 months, milk 75% and even Coke and Pepsi have jumped 50 cents a 12-pack while Charlottesvillians enjoyed the state’s most expensive Thanksgiving dinners. There’s the cost of gasoline and heating oil. There’s the number of foreclosures or the threat of more well-paying jobs being lost across the nation.

Maybe we see cutbacks at work and decreasing profits and worry that the layoff axe could come down and right-size our body by down-sizing our head.
Maybe we’re scared. Maybe our global economy is affecting us locally, taking manufacturing jobs and replacing them with lower paid retail clerking and fast food supersizing jobs.

Maybe we can’t afford to give anymore.

Maybe I’m an off-my-nut alarmist/pessimist looking for something to write about that will tick off a few people and spark comments on a blogsite.

Maybe I’m wrong. What scares me is that I may be right.