Seattle Times Fund For The Needy offers opportunity to give

No one can find jobs for all of the area's unemployed, but many people can help a struggling family pay its rent or heating bill.

No one can wave a magic wand to wipe out poverty, domestic violence, drug addiction — or the daily challenges faced by the ill, infirm and elderly. But a caring community looks for opportunities to help.

In that spirit of opportunity, The Seattle Times today opens its 31st annual Fund For The Needy campaign.

The two-month drive, which collected a record $668,183 last year, comes as social-service agencies are squeezed between increased need and sharp cutbacks in donor support and government assistance.

Word last week that October's unemployment rate hit 9.3 percent — up from 5.9 percent for the same month last year — is just the latest confirmation of difficult times.

"It's the worst year I've seen," said Denise Klein, executive director of Senior Services, one of 13 agencies helped by the Fund. Staffers' cost-of-living raises were eliminated and other belt-tightening measures were taken at the agency that, among its myriad programs, still delivered more than 457,000 meals to homebound seniors in King County last year — enough to stack six dinners on every seat at Qwest Field, with leftovers.

In the same year, Senior Services volunteers and shuttle drivers logged 618,000 miles — nearly 25 times the distance around the earth — taking clients to medical appointments, nutrition programs and senior centers, though a shortage of volunteer drivers meant some requests went unanswered.

The pinch is also being felt at the Salvation Army, which is running out of money to help families pay utility bills and is struggling to keep basic supplies in its six local food banks. Last year in King County, the Salvation Army served more than 82,000 meals and handed out 87,000 bags of groceries.

Other agencies assisted by The Times' Fund are scrambling for resources to benefit a wide array of people in need, from drug-affected infants to families coping with autism, from at-risk youth to women and children fleeing domestic violence.

"Needy" is not a word Les Albright would readily use to describe himself, nor his wife of 67 years, Jean.

Les, 87, had a 30-year career driving a truck for the former Frederick & Nelson department store, retiring in 1982. Jean was a payroll clerk for the Seattle School District. They have a modest, long-paid-off house a mile south of Northgate.

But life got tougher three years ago, when Les fell in his backyard workshop.

"I was scared," he said. "I couldn't get up." He had opened a cut on his temple that took 14 stitches to close. Much worse, he shattered his hip.

Because the workshop isn't attached to the house, Les didn't think anyone would hear him holler. He used the cellphone in his shirt pocket to call Jean, in the house, and she summoned aid.

Even after getting a metal hip socket, Albright never recovered enough movement to drive. He now uses a walker for balance and support. And Jean, 86, has been driving less lately, having problems with her vision.

That's where Senior Services comes in. Five or six times a month, when Les or Jean has a doctor's appointment, the agency sends out a volunteer driver.

"If we had to take a taxi for all these," said Les, looking over his calendar of upcoming appointments, "we couldn't afford it." Although cab fare would be out of reach, the Albrights send Senior Services at least a modest donation nearly every month.

Last week, Les' driver to an eye-doctor appointment was Tom Brown, a retired electronics engineer and business owner who's been volunteering through Senior Services for about a decade.

"I get to meet really interesting people who have stories to tell and are wonderful to be with," said Brown. "I get way more out of it than they do."

Brown, 65, used to drive his late mother to medical appointments, and noticed that many people her age needed rides. Perhaps someday, said Brown, he will, too. "A lot of people may be doing OK when they retire, but your assets don't always last." His wife is also a volunteer driver for Senior Services.

Drivers, who use their own cars and are reimbursed for mileage and parking, are essential to this service. "We turn away seniors like Les every week because we simply do not have enough volunteers to respond to the demand," said Cindy Zwart, director of the agency's transportation program.

In Seattle's South Park neighborhood, it was the Salvation Army who came to the rescue of Joseph and Ethel Howe, after Mrs. Howe, 87, fell early this year.

"We would have been lost without them," said Joseph Howe, a retired Boeing mechanic 10 years younger than his wife.

She wasn't seriously injured, but lay on the floor several hours unable to get up, until her husband came home.

Joseph Howe blames himself for letting conditions in the couple's rental house deteriorate to the point that the fire department, which came to Mrs. Howe's aid, said it was no longer safe to inhabit. "I hadn't been able to take care of it, and I guess I should have asked for help."

He was familiar with the Salvation Army. For years, Howe had been stopping by the White Center Corps a few times a week for conversation or a hot lunch. Sometimes he helps out, calling the center's Bingo game or wrapping Christmas presents for needy children.

When Bill and Janeece Talbot, directors at the White Center Corps, heard of the Howes' plight, they got on the phone, finding an apartment at South Park Manor, operated by the Seattle Housing Authority.

"They didn't just find it. They furnished it. Unbelievable," said Howe. When he and his wife moved into the apartment in March, the bed was made, the cupboard was stocked with canned goods, and there was cornbread on the counter and butter in the refrigerator. "I can't say enough about the Salvation Army," Howe said.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com