The annual Appeal, now in its 96th year, raises funds to aid 51 programs administered by Catholic Charities throughout Western New York, and the organization claims that the 2019 Appeal benefited more than 160,000 people.
"Our $10 million goal recognizes the challenges associated with raising such a significant amount of money in today's environment while also realizing the ongoing need for critical programs and services that we provide," Schumer continued.
Appeal 2020 Chair Rick Cronin spoke to the wide variety of programs and people this money touches.
"We've been helping people across the board, across the eight counties in Western New York, people of all social strata, people of all desperation levels, people who need a little help, kids, adults that need counseling..." he said.
"Every year, we assess sort of the economic climate; we assess the needs, and we try to set the goal in accordance to what we think is achievable while allowing us to fill the needs," said Schumer. "This is not the first time the goal has been lowered - in the many, many years we've been doing the Appeal, the goal has gone up and the goal has gone down."
"The demographics of Western New York have changed a lot since I became involved in Catholic Charities," said Cronin. "The death rate, if you want to call it that, is important. Many of our donors are older, and many of our donors move out of Western New York to follow their children and grandchildren. Many of our donors pass away. We've noticed a trend, I'd say in the last eight years, we've probably gone from 50,000 donors maybe to 35,000 donors, and it's not because of dissatisfaction, it's just simple demographics."
Regardless, Cronin says he's confident that this year's goal can be achieved.
"I think some people have been dissatisfied; they have to be convinced that we are using our money for the people that need it, as the bishop just said," he continued. "State law requires us to honor donor designation, so the money cannot be touched. I think people have always been a little suspicious of authority, whether it's government or ecclesiastical, but we've got a great base and I'm confident."