Churches aiding charities in tough economy

The dollars rolled in for charities Sunday at the Harvest of Blessings at All Saints Catholic Church.

"It's a chance where groups that want to sell something to benefit their causes can get together at one event...and it's a chance for people to do Christmas shopping and benefit a lot of good causes," said Mike Martin with All Saints Catholic Church.

Salsa sales benefited Habitat for Humanity, and popcorn sales helped the Boy Scouts. The church's giving tree hit a new record this year with 1500 hundred tags, up from last year's 1100.

"Our giving tree supports several agencies with Catholic Charities and also supports the runaway shelter with Child and Family Tennessee," Martin said.

Grace Baptist Church invited charities to their church to encourage giving.

"We can fuss about people not being generous, but if we don't tell people what the needs are then they won't feel compelled to meet the needs," said Darrell Wright with Grace Baptist Church. He said charitable giving in the church is about the same as it was last year, but the church generally sees an increase of 12-20% from year to year.

Maxine Raines with Lost Sheep Ministry says her group has seen donations decrease while the need has increased.

"But we have those that are committed in offerings. That keeps us afloat, but we are definitely down," says Raines.

While the needs are growing outside church walls more help is being requested by members too.

"We have families that have been here for years that are really struggling financially. We have job losses just like every church in town, and to step up and help those families is our first priority, so they can step up and meet the community's needs as well," said Wright.