A teenage girl in Alabama becomes pregnant. Fear and confusion control her emotions. So many questions, so many decisions. Where does she turn? She’s not ready to talk to Mom and Dad, not yet anyway.
A friend gives her a phone number of a crisis pregnancy help line. “They will help you through this,” the friend says.
But when the girl calls, she finds only a computerized voice at the other end. The message that this line has been disconnected prevents her from talking with a Christian woman who would have offered her alternatives to abortion as well as provided a listening ear.
Elimination of the pregnancy help line was the first of a number of pending cuts forced upon the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH) by budget woes.
“We are currently operating with a deficit of $331,399 as of Oct. 31,” said Paul Miller, executive director for ABCH. “Our (total) income is down $420,819 from last year. … The operating budget we submitted for next year is a reduction. It is 1.83 percent less than this year’s budget,” Miller explained. The 2003 operating budget was $5,559,452, while the 2004 operating budget will be $5,457,846.
Miller said ABCH officials began preparing for the deficit earlier this year when they realized the money would be tight. Along with eliminating the help line, the ABCH also made staff reductions with normal attrition and closed two counseling sites. Staff positions not replaced came in the form of one administrative assistant and five social workers.
Staff members also tightened their belts by sacrificing office resources such as the replacement of vehicles.
“This is the first year we have spent more than we have taken in,” Miller said, noting the budget has been “creeping this direction for a few years. Right now we’ve tried to be better managers and save on other things, but [ultimately] this means we will serve fewer children if the deficit continues.”
Louise Green, director of special programs at the ABCH, said the budget crunch will also mean less money for group and foster homes.
The ABCH has moved from talking about what new program can be developed to help children in need to discussing which programs will be closed, Green explained. “There are hundreds of children out there that we will not be able to help because we can’t take them in to help,” she said.
“Many times, 100 percent of the children in our care are unchurched and in need of accepting the gospel,” Green added. “There are as many missions opportunities in Decatur as there are in the Dominican Republic, as many in Gardendale as there are in Guatemala, … and as many in Mobile as there are in Mozambique.”
The children are the focus as the ABCH studies how to deal with the budget deficit, Miller said. “We are going to be deliberate in the process with no sudden moves or changes. We want what is best for the staff and the kids.”
Glenn Estess Jr., newly elected president of the ABCH board of directors, said a committee has been appointed to assess the financial situation and make recommendations about what to do.
It is anticipated that a recommendation will be presented during the ABCH March board of directors meeting, Miller noted.
Estess said, “We are researching some savings. We’ve had good years in the past and it is a matter of reaching back to our savings.
“We are hopeful the churches will step up and increase their donations so we don’t have to [pull from reserves],” Estess explained. “It is not a prudent way of using the money. … We are not going to do that longer than a number of years,” he said. “We have to make some tougher decisions if we can’t increase the funding.”
Currently the ABCH maintains one year’s operating budget in reserves, Estess said, noting the ABCH will end the year still maintaining that amount.
ABCH officials reported that all forms of giving decreased between 2002 and 2003. While the ABCH receives financial gifts and income in a number of ways — wills, endowments, dividends, entitlements, etc. — gifts specifically related to Alabama Baptists’ common forms of giving showed significant decreases.
Last year between January 1 and Oct. 31 church gifts to the ABCH were $2,058,819. As of Oct. 31 of this year, church gifts for 2003 were $1,652,609.
Cooperative Program (CP) gifts going to the ABCH were $265,826 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2002, and $215,366 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2003.
Individual gifts reached $797,374 in the Jan. 1–Oct. 31, 2002, time frame, while during that same period in 2003 individual gifts equaled $757,348.
Church support
“Church giving has always been and continues to be our number one source of income,” Miller said, but “many churches don’t give designated gifts to the Children’s Homes. We need their support.”
According to the 2002 Alabama Baptist State Convention annual, the ABCH receives less than 1 percent (0.64%) of the challenge budget for CP dollars.
“This allows the ABCH to operate for only three weeks out of one year,” Miller pointed out.
Miller, who quoted the ABCH founder John Stewart, “Let the Baptists know what you’ve got and they’ll do the rest.”
“I’m going to let the Baptists know we have a deficit and see what they do,” Miller said.
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