The Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy arm of the church, lobbied aggressively to get more money for human services, as did other service providers like Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. The final budget included a 2.5 percent increase. But that is nowhere near enough, said Pedro Martinez, Catholic Charities' comptroller. The agency is facing cost increases of nearly 10 percent, based on the rising cost of providing health benefits and giving an average raise of 3.5 percent to the agencies employees. But giving has not kept up with the need.
Foundations have to do their share, and private donors have to understand their role.
I think it's very hard for people to understand the depth and the need that Catholic Charities deals with. There's a lot of people who think that because they're working and things are going well for them, it's that way for everybody. But many people can't make ends meet. About 164,000 people came to Catholic Charities for emergency assistance during the first six months of this year, Boland said, more than came during the Depression. Because of that, emergency services is one area that Catholic Charities is expanding.