Salvation Army struggles to fill needs

Published 4:00 am Monday, December 17, 2001

Wayne and Theresa Pieper want nothing more than to give their young sons presents for Christmas.

But it’s been a hard couple of months for the family and they can’t afford any fire truck, motorcycle and school bus toys right now.

”It means a lot to us that the kids will receive presents,” Wayne said.

Eric, 3, and Ryan, 4, still believe Santa will pull through.

Wayne, 41, and Theresa, 42, who are living in the Salvation Army’s shelter and living on about one day a week’s worth of wages, have applied for a Salvation Army toy basket to help that come true.

But the Salvation Army is having a hard season, too.

As of Friday, the organization had 3,000 more requests for food and toys than at the same time last year, said Capt. Jack Smith. Meanwhile, local donations have been dwindling in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Smith said he’s afraid this year the Salvation Army might have to turn people’s requests away something the organization has never done.

After Sept. 11, ”a lot of organizations made a lot of appeals and folks responded,” Smith said. ”We have to remember that what we give is normally disposable income. That’s what happened. People in the U.S. really opened their hearts. On a local level, that has hurt. We’re considerably behind as far as toys and food this year versus last year. We’re also above last year in requests.”

But, Smith said, if enough donations come in between now and distribution time Dec. 20 food and gift baskets might just be shrunk instead of denied.

The city of Bend’s Santa Express made its annual rounds recently and collected 3,627 pounds of food, slightly more than last year, as well as clothing and cash donations, but it’s still not meeting the demand.

Bend Firefighters Association President Mark Taylor is urging people to buy extra nonperishable foods when they shop to donate to the Salvation Army, to help the many families like the Piepers, who want a better life.

The Piepers left a neighborhood of crime and gang violence in Chicago shortly before Sept. 11.

Wayne drove a truck for the circus, which led them to Bozeman, Mont. Then, they came to Bend because his aunt lives here, because the area is safer than the city, and because it has beautiful mountains and trees, they said.

Wayne’s working as much as he can through Instant Labor, a temporary job placement service.

Sometimes, that’s only one day a week, doing construction-related jobs.

Theresa spends her days chasing around the boys when she’s not applying for cashier jobs.

”Things are hard for us now,” Theresa said. ”We have no money, no house.”

She said she’s had hard times before, but not quite like this.

So far, however, it hasn’t affected the boys as much as the parents.

”The kids don’t know what’s going on. They’re loved … have got all their needs met. But they know that something’s different,” Wayne said.

They are hoping to get back on their feet and find permanent housing at Healy Heights before too much time goes by, so their graying, coughing, 14-year-old Chihuahua, Blackie, doesn’t have to live in the tan Ford minivan anymore.

The family sans Blackie can sleep and eat at the shelter as long as they work toward certain self-improvement goals such as classes and job searches, with which they seem happy to comply.

The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council has provided daycare and car insurance on occasion. Local churches have helped with gas money.

”Oregon’s got a lot of help for those who want to work for it,” Wayne said.

They say they are happy to be here and optimistic that things will get better in time.

But in the immediate future, they just hope that Santa fills the stockings this year.

Anne Aurand can be reached at 541-383-0323 or by sending an e-mail to Anne Aurand.