Giving from the heart

Every down economy brings with it a one-two punch where our less fortunate friends are concerned: Human need goes up, while capacity to help goes down.

The current economy, while struggling to recover, has been through the worst recession since the Great Depression -- making it even more difficult than usual on the needy and the agencies that serve them.

So it is all the more remarkable that two big Augusta-area fund-raising projects are meeting with such astounding success.

Volunteers have raised their goal of $1.8 million to build a new Fisher House at the "uptown" Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center on Wrightsboro Road. The total cost of the 20-suite home for families of those getting military health care is $5.4 million -- the remaining $3.6 million of which will be generously funded by the national Fisher House Foundation.

There is a Fisher House at every major military medical center. They are essentially the military equivalent of Ronald McDonald Houses, which offer low-cost rooms to families of sick children.

An existing Fisher House at Eisenhower Army Medical Center on Fort Gordon -- which is almost always full, leading to the need for the new one at the VA -- also will be rehabilitated eventually.

Still, they're not stopping there: Folks in the wounded warrior community want to raise additional funds to provide transitional housing for families of military outpatients; Fisher Houses are for inpatients' families only.

Meanwhile, the public campaign to build the new $97.8 million Kroc Center in the Harrisburg area is only beginning in earnest -- and yet the goal is in sight.

Remarkably, the Kroc Center will require only a $20 million local match -- and officials say they've raised $16.7 million already, as the campaign moves into a more public phase.

That's just $3.3 million left to go.

What will that buy us? An unprecedented amount, in truth.

Ray and Joan Kroc, the family that built the McDonald's empire, left a fortune to the national Salvation Army for a series of Kroc centers around the country. Augusta's will be one of them.

Augusta applied for and received approval for $67.8 million in Kroc funds for an educational, recreational and cultural center, which will be at the site of Chafee Park on Broad Street. The local match is really $30 million, but $10 million is being credited for moving local Salvation Army administrative operations to the new center.

The center will include a 400-seat theater and worship center, educational and job-training facilities, a fitness center and pool, walking paths and more. In addition, the United Way of the CSRA will move there, and nearly 40 other human service organizations will have use of facilities.

The Kroc grant includes $33.9 million for an operating endowment, meaning no extra costs to operate the center once it's built. Groundbreaking is expected late this year.

There are still opportunities to contribute to both of these great efforts -- the Kroc Center still needs that $3.3 million to get over the hump. Seek out the Fisher House or the Salvation Army for more information.

Such projects are quietly changing the landscape in Augusta, no matter the economy.

What doesn't change is the community's giving.