chad
30th October 2013, 06:21 AM
some observations from where i am the past month or so:
boy scout popcorn sale: worst sales ever reported "for as long as he can remember" from my scoutmaster. he's been in since the mid 1990s. head office reports application for camp subsidy are weirdly high. the office lady told me they don't usually get ANY until april or may (camp starts in june). this year, she's said she's already had 33 people apply.
food donations to out food pantry at church: all but stopped. we used to get 4-5 bags per mass, now it's one can of tuna and a box of noodles. nobody is donating anything.
kids activities (sports) at school: been talking to parents at school events, LOTS of families are pulling kids out of programs due to cost and letting them be in only one per year. no more football, and basketball, and baseball, and etc. pick one, it's too costly.
catholic school district: reported that charitable funding for programs they put on has all but dried up. they run 4 or 5 programs for the community that the kids organize and oversee at the high school. highest funded program is 40% of what they did last year at this time. and last year, all programs were funded 100% by now.
businesses here are closing left and right. there's a strip mall that had 9 stores in it this year last time. now, 2. out of 30 or so stores downtown, 6 have shuttered. even country taverns are closing, which in wisconsin, is unheard of.
i think reality might be beginning to set in. i especially found the behind the scenes fundin info from the scouts and my school district enlightening, as that's hard data, not anecedotal.
boy scout popcorn sale: worst sales ever reported "for as long as he can remember" from my scoutmaster. he's been in since the mid 1990s. head office reports application for camp subsidy are weirdly high. the office lady told me they don't usually get ANY until april or may (camp starts in june). this year, she's said she's already had 33 people apply.
food donations to out food pantry at church: all but stopped. we used to get 4-5 bags per mass, now it's one can of tuna and a box of noodles. nobody is donating anything.
kids activities (sports) at school: been talking to parents at school events, LOTS of families are pulling kids out of programs due to cost and letting them be in only one per year. no more football, and basketball, and baseball, and etc. pick one, it's too costly.
catholic school district: reported that charitable funding for programs they put on has all but dried up. they run 4 or 5 programs for the community that the kids organize and oversee at the high school. highest funded program is 40% of what they did last year at this time. and last year, all programs were funded 100% by now.
businesses here are closing left and right. there's a strip mall that had 9 stores in it this year last time. now, 2. out of 30 or so stores downtown, 6 have shuttered. even country taverns are closing, which in wisconsin, is unheard of.
i think reality might be beginning to set in. i especially found the behind the scenes fundin info from the scouts and my school district enlightening, as that's hard data, not anecedotal.