“Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard, to get her poor dog a bone. But when she got there, the cupboard was bare, so her poor little dog had none.”

This Christmas season, many in our community are struggling to make ends meet. There isn’t anything in the cupboard for basic necessities, let alone a coin or two for the neighbourhood mission.

What does this mean for nonprofit organizations like us and the people who rely on our services?

Obviously, there is simply not enough money. The cupboard is bare. The general public, from whom we obtain 55 per cent of our operating funds, cannot donate as generously as they have in the past. According to recent Mission Services research, many people are tightening their personal budgets throughout the Hamilton and Burlington area. When we surveyed our donors, 50 per cent of respondents stated they had cut back on their charitable giving in the last year for economic reasons, including the pronounced increase in electricity charges that has been passed down to all citizens, regardless of their income, along with the HST and the rising price of gasoline.

So the cupboard is bare. Times are tough. But Hamilton and Burlington are cities built by tough people who have always had tenacity in tough times. We will get through this.

Our research has also found that our donors, the citizens of Hamilton and Burlington, are especially concerned about jobs — the security of their present jobs and job opportunities for the future. They are also anxious that their contributions to society, whether by way of taxes or charitable donations, are being well spent, and that organizations meet their obligations and are well managed.

As the executive director of a nonprofit charity, I am mandated to operate with a balanced budget and it is my obligation to be accountable to every single one of our donors. I hope that I am receiving the same diligence from my elected representatives that is expected of me.

Like my fellow citizens, I also wonder if I am getting the best return on my tax dollars. Are my representatives concerned about balancing the budget before increasing taxes? Is “stadium-mania” truly economically beneficial to our city? Is the proposed Light Rapid Transit the best investment compared to other alternatives? Are certain elected officials deflecting attention from past failures by finding easy targets, kicking them while they are already down, continuing to tar and feather them and then running them out of town?

Historically, precedents show that in hard times leaders look for scapegoats to rouse public fear and turn the spotlight away from real challenges. As a result, I was alarmed at recent comments made by Ward 6 Councillor Tom Jackson, who suggested the city “unsaturate” halfway houses from the region, which is mere code for running the Community Correction Centre on York Boulevard out of town. I cannot help but think how easy it is to pick on a marginalized population that already encounters a tremendous amount of discrimination.

In my previous employment at a large mission in Montreal, I was responsible for incorporating a program to provide employment, training and social rehabilitation to residents of a Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) halfway house. Overall, this program was a success, with former inmates and the mission benefitting from the arrangement. Twice a year, inmates would strip, clean and wax the floors of the entire premises and at Christmastime eight inmates from minimum security prisons would help prepare thousands of Christmas baskets for needy families. These individuals all had their own stories of hardship, they had paid their debt to society, and most wanted more than anything to reintegrate into society.

Moreover, Jackson should know that CSC has operated a very profitable commercial furniture manufacturing operation for years called CORCAN. In fact, most inmates who take advantage of the program rehabilitate.

It is Christmas time in Hamilton and times are tough for many, particularly those who are unemployed, ill, alone, newly arrived to Canada, and, yes, former inmates. We ought to pause for a moment and remember that baby Jesus’s family fled as refugees to Egypt. Later, Jesus was tried as a criminal and condemned to death. On the cross, didn’t He preach tolerance, forgiveness and rehabilitation? Isn’t this what Christmas is about?

Pastor Ed Raddatz is executive director, Mission Services Opportunity Centres.

Originally posted at TheSpec: http://www.thespec.com/opinion/article/282197--halfway-house-a-handy-scapegoat