VOA标准英语2011--US Charity Donations Rebound

Increased donations
Each week an Arlington, Virginia food bank delivers donated goods to a senior citizens residential¹ building. Without the the items such as canned food, dairy products and frozen meats, many on fixed² incomes would be forced to go without or sacrifice other things.
"Well a lot of people have to pay for medicine and different small items, but with this here that helps them be able to keep a little more as far as carrying them through the month," says Mary Lanier, as she fills a bag with donated food.
Without donations from individuals and corporations the Arlington Food Assistance Center would be unable to get food into the hands of about 3,000 people who need it. Despite the economic downturn, donations here grew 26 percent over 2009 and more than a million dollars was raised last year.
"Arlington County residents have traditionally been very generous with AFAC and I think they are coming out of this recession earlier than most, and are willing to give back to their fellow neighbor," says Charles Meng, executive director of the Arlington Food Assistance Center.
Donors³ like Alois Michalak are among those giving back to their fellow neighbor. "Over the past four years, my wife and I have donated more and more each and every year so I do expect that to continue to happen."
Feeling the pinch
However, some charities in the Washington D.C. area are still feeling the squeeze.
While nationwide donations to the Salvation⁴ Army rose two percent to $142 million last year, its largest fundraising drive in the Washington area, the Red Kettle campaign, fell 25 percent below its goal during the Christmas giving season.
"With the amount of people out of work and losing their homes to foreclosures our donors have begun to get hit by that," says Steve Morris, head of The Salvation Army's Washington-area operations. "So we not only saw a decrease in the amount of gifts, but a decrease in the gifts themselves."
During the past several years the organization has also seen a decline in donations from corporations and local businesses. As a result, Morris says The Salvation Army is re-evaluating its resources to avoid possible cuts to programs in Washington and about 3,000 other U.S. communities.
"We are going to have to tighten⁵ our belts some in the coming months, frankly," says Morris. "Our commitment is not to diminish services. In fact in this economy we need to be increasing the amount of services we can provide so that is the challenge that we find locally, and I think nationally as well."
VOA
The Salvation Army's thrift⁶ store saw fewer donations last year, leaving more room on the sales floor and in the warehouse⁷ than usual.
Empty shelves
The Salvation Army's thrift store is another place that saw fewer donations last year. The store sells donated items to raise money for charity work, but there are now less items for shoppers.
"The easiest way to tell that our donations are down is by our (sales) floor," says store manager Lonnie Hamilton. "You can look around and see we have a lot of space on the floor."
In the store's warehouse, areas that were once filled with furniture and clothes are now empty. Salvation Army officials say during hard times people tend to hang on to old items longer.
In order for things to improve the store needs more donors like Dawson Williams, who arrives to drop off some items.
"We have a bad recession and there are plenty of people that need items, and we are fortunate that the childrens' clothes we have are lightly used, and hopefully there is another family that has young children that can put them to good use," says Williams.
Some charitable organizations say they are optimistic donations will pick back up this year. Officials say if not they will make do, and maybe scale back programs that help people in need.

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

5 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

6 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

7 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。