POULSBO — It’s no secret who’s playing Santa Claus this year. In times of economic crisis, many it’s local businesses stepping up to ensure a happy holiday season for all.
Most businesses are used to lending a helping hand during the holidays, but this year the demand called for a more help than ever before, said Barbara Griffin, Port Madison Enterprises’ Human Resource director. Griffin wears an additional hat this time of year: holiday outreach coordinator.
The Suquamish tribe owns Port Madison Enterprises, which includes Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort, Kiana Lodge and various retail outlets.
This year the Suquamish Tribal Corporation’s holiday outreach program reached out and touched the lives of 68 families and 169 children, about 30 children more than last year. The children and their families were invited to a holiday dinner last week and met Santa Claus, who gave each child a present and festive stocking.
“Holiday outreach has continued to grow,” Griffin said, attributing the growing need to the rising unemployment rate and depressed economy.
Workforce Explorer Washington, a division of the Washington State Employment Security Department, reports Kitsap County’s unemployment rate for the month of November at 5.8 percent. That equates to about 7,300 jobless in a workforce of about 126,000.
In Port Madison’s seventh year of playing Santa Claus, Griffin has it down to a science. She receives names from local agencies of families who need assistance to get through the holidays. The families are contacted so the children can have the opportunity to request presents for Christmas. While the focus is primarily on families in North Kitsap, the organization does branch into other areas of the county as well.
In addition to helping individual families, the outreach spreads to Kitsap’s Toys for Tots effort. A round of volunteers swept through local stores, spending about $6,000 for toys to donate to the cause.
“Between Holiday Outreach and our Toys for Tots run, we were able to give gifts to more than 400 children this year,” Griffin said.
It’s corporations like Port Madison Enterprises that those who serve the financially strapped rely on, said Patricia Hennessy, director of resource development for the United Way of Kitsap County.
To assess the need for assistance in the county, Hennessy often looks at the demand at local food banks, as they take care of the most basic of needs.
“Local food banks are inundated with families — new families — people who were working not too long ago or who cannot stretch their paycheck any further than it can possibly go,” Hennessy said. “Food banks are the most basic indicator (of need). It’s not a good situation when families are having to choose if their kids get three meals a day or when an elderly person has to decide between buying food or prescription medicine.
Giving cash donations is most helpful, but if pocketbooks are strained, Hennessy said there are other ways to fulfill the need to assist others, like volunteering time to a local charitable organization.
The holiday giving this year is encouraging but it’s also worrisome.
“The thing I’m really concerned about is that if the economic downturn continues even longer, there’s going to be a greater need next year,” she said. “People are going to be tired and worn out.” Those who need assistance during the holidays are likely going to continue to need help making ends meet year round, she said.
“I don’t think the economy is going to turn around overnight,” she said.
