The Worst Offender

Saint Vincent De Paul, Catholic Charities of Lane County have topped our list of worst charities in Lane County.

In my research I found that Catholic Charities brings in right around 20 million dollars a year.  They have been bringing in something close to that figure for at least the last 5 years.

With this in mind I assumed that they were doing fantastic things with this money.  Unfortunately it just isn't the case.  They own a lot of buildings and property.  They need to keep the lights on and maintain the property.  The trucks that move the donation trailers have to be fueled and the drivers have to be paid.  Management and the rest of the employees have to be paid.  All of these are legitimate expenses.  Let's look at what Lane County is getting for its 20 million dollars a year.  What is Catholic Charities doing to put this money back into the community.  After all, we are donating to this charity and shopping at there stores because we think that they are helping people.

Let's start by listing the programs that they provide: 

The Night Shelter Program

This program runs from September to June, which is the normal school year.

What this program does is place families with churches where they sleep for a week or so and then move to a different church.  Rooms in the churches, frequently Sunday school rooms are separated into cubicles with partitions and then 1 mattress is placed on the floor for each family member that will be in that cubicle.  Some rooms are larger and you can separate them into more cubicles than others.

Families are provided with dinner in the evening and breakfast in the morning.  There are usually toys available for the children to play with before dinner is served.  Check in is after 5pm and checkout is no later than 8am.

First Place, which serves as a day center for families that have nowhere else to go.  They can cook meals here and eat food provided to them for free by Food for Lane County.

At the end of the day, around 5pm those in the program are driven in a van either by First Place or by that weeks church sponsor and the families are brought to the church.  

Let's breakdown the cost of this program

The fuel for 9 months to provide transportation to and from the sponsoring churches is right around $6000  and this an extremely inflated figure. A good number of sponsoring churches were less than five miles away from first place.

Becky Beck, the woman that runs the night shelter program collects a salary.  To be honest I have no idea how much she is paid.  I was told by a secretary that she made $13 an hour. I am sure that Becky Beck is paid considerably more than the secretary.  Let's be generous in speculating what her salary is because we want to inflate the cost of this program as much as we possibly can.  Let's say $50,000 a year.

So here is the break down

Van Driver............ $0 - He works for free

Van Fuel............... $6000

Becky Beck.......... $50,000

Total: $56,0000  

**Most of this money is goes into Becky Becks bank account.

The Overnight Parking Program

This program allows people with cars to park overnight in church parking lots, with a maximum of 2 cars per church.  Portable toilets are provided at each location and are paid for by Catholic Charities.

Diana Wise manages the overnight parking program.  Diana Wise is also the assistant director of First Place Family Center, her husband is the director.  

Other than what Diana Wise takes as her salary this programs only cost is the portable toilets which Diana Wise claims costs Catholic Charities $50,000 per year

The breakdown

Portable toilets............ $50,000

Total: $50,000

First Place Family Center

This facility provides a place for families to go during the day.  First Place is more than just a day center.

Here is a list of the services provided:

■ Free Laundry (they even provide the detergent)

■ Free Food (provided by Food for Lane County)

■ Once a month thrift store clothing voucher ($30 per person / once a month)

■ Half-priced monthly bus passes (must be purchased at least 1 week in advance)

■ Cooking facilities (refrigerator, microwave, stove)

■ Indoor/Outdoor play area for children

■ Christmas gift giving program (people are sponsored by members of the local community)

■ Showers (soap and other items are provided through donations)

The overhead at this facility would also include

■ Electricity / Water / Gas

■ Laundry Detergent

■ Coffee / Sugar

■ The staff which at last count was 7 people

                   ■ 2 Directors

                   ■ 2 Receptionists

                   ■ 1 Night Shelter Coordinator

                   ■ 1 Case manager

                   ■ 1 Person that does Housekeeping / Building Maintenance

■ Insurance and other maintenance for the van

■ Misc.

This is going to be hard to breakdown. This place does a lot of stuff.  first we will have to list all of the things that cost them nothing or almost nothing.  Then we can focus on what it actually costs to run this facility.

The breakdown

Laundry Detergent ............ $0 - Donated

Food .................................. $0 - Donated

Clothing Store Vouchers ....$0 - Donated

Toiletries ............................$0 - Donated

The part that costs realmoney

Utilities .............................  $????????

Staff Salaries ..................... $????????

Vehicle Maintenance ......... $????????