Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund could use Santa's help

Nov 24, 2008 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GXP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Think of Christmas in Kansas City and visions of that amazingly tall Mayor's Christmas Tree probably dance in your head.

It's a 130-year-old holiday tradition, now featuring a 100-foot-tall tree at Crown Center adorned with more than 7,000 lights.

But in recent years the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund -- which provides thousands of dollars for needy families -- has fallen on hard times itself.

Its cash reserves are dwindling. For the first time last year, some families were denied help. Even more are expected to be turned down this year.

Meg Conger, a member of the tree fund's new board, said, "it's a little too early to determine" the effect on fundraising of this year's dire economy, or Mayor Mark Funkhouser's recent political troubles.

"Fundraising is certainly challenging this year," Conger added. "But the community should focus on that this is a longtime charity and not any particular mayor's fund.

"This fund transcends officeholders. It's iconic," she said.

This year, the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund board boosted the amount of aid to $40,000. But Cheryl Price, the Salvation Army's project coordinator, said the agency already has received enough applications for assistance to exhaust that amount.

Price estimated that as many as 500 people may be denied assistance this holiday season.

"I would hate to see the program go under because it is one of the very few that targets this population (elderly or disabled adults)," Price said.

Funkhouser announced early in his tenure as mayor that the Christmas Tree Fund would not die on his watch. He also pledged a major overhaul of the fund, which began to decline before he became mayor.

Last week, Funkhouser acknowledged that "the fund was on its way to oblivion" when he inherited it.

Because of the fund's long history, he doesn't think recent political controversies will affect contributions.

"This crew we have is not going to let it fail," Funkhouser said.

Long tradition

The Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund dates to 1878. Today's tradition is to light the Mayor's Christmas Tree at 6 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Rob Riggle, correspondent on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and a former Overland Park resident, will help Funkhouser throw the switch.

This year, about $40,000 in gift cards from Price Chopper grocery stores are expected to be given away. To help raise more money, donations will be taken for a chance at a one-year lease for a Ford Fusion, donated by Dick Smith Ford and Kansas City Power & Light Co.

Crown Center covers the costs of transporting the donated tree from the Pacific Northwest.

Ornaments are made of wood from previous year's trees and sold to benefit the fund. Usually, about $35,000 comes back from ornament sales.

In December, the fund gave away $31,000 in gift cards and spent an additional $10,000 on children's parties. But that was almost $25,000 less than what the fund gave in gift cards in 2006, when everyone who asked for help got it.

Because of a lack of funds last year, more people -- 1,101 -- were denied a $30 gift card than the 1,070 people who got one.

In 2004, the fund helped 1,620 people with $54,225, but since then the fund's reserves have steadily declined. At the end of the 2003-2004 budget year, the fund had $151,818 in reserves; this year's reserve was $82,024.

The board has limited its gift-card spending each year to an amount less than the contributions it received the year before. That way, it always has some money in the bank.

Part of the decline is attributed to the 2003 death of the fund's major organizer and benefactor, Jerry Cohen.

"If there was a shortfall, he wrote a check," said Randy Landes, city treasurer.

Former Mayor Kay Barnes said her office tried "very hard to continue the tradition," including working with Hallmark and Crown Center.

"We were able to sustain it, not at the level that he (Cohen) did, but of course he put so much of his own effort and resources in it every year," Barnes added. "We did everything we could reasonably do."

Difficult changeover

The transition between the Barnes and the Funkhouser administrations might have gone more smoothly, according to some fund officials.

"We never got their old databases," said Keli O'Neill Wenzel of O'Neill Communications, which was brought on last year to help.

But much of the decline already was under way even before Funkhouser became mayor, fund officials said.

Last year, Funkhouser promised changes, but there were still some problems. O'Neill Wenzel said she didn't really get to work on the fund's holiday plans until October.

Funkhouser brought new faces to the fund's board, including Sister Berta Sailer, co-director of Operation Breakthrough; Gwen Wolf, wife of Ed Wolf, then the mayor's chief of staff; Conger, who has experience in fundraising for Kansas City nonprofits; and Susan Chesser, wife of Mike Chesser, chief executive of KCP&L and its parent company, Great Plains Energy.

The new board cut costs and stepped up fundraising. Instead of a public relations firm, Conger and other board members organized fundraising on their own. Conger, the Chessers and Gwen Wolf stuffed about 4,000 envelopes, Conger said.

A new Web site, www.mayortreefund.com, was launched. And, local music groups agreed to appear this year for free.

Conger raised nearly $25,000 in pledged donations for the children's parties, which this year are being paid for through the city's Parks and Recreation Department rather than the Christmas tree fund.

The board also re-established ties with the Cohen family. Rosalyn Jacobson, Cohen's daughter, agreed to serve as the board's honorary chairwoman.

Jacobson said she decided to be more involved this year after being approached by the mayor, his wife and board members.

"This is a worthy cause," she said. "It's for the city. It's not political. It's charity."

The Star's DeAnn Smith contributed to this report. To reach Michael Mansur, call 816-234-4433 or send e-mail to mmansur@kcstar.com. To reach Debra Skodack, call 816-234-4738 or send e-mail to http://www.kansascity.com

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