1 Florida United Methodist Review Online

United Methodist Children’s Home faces major cutbacks

Trustee chairperson doesn’t want to close cottages.

By Michael Wacht

ENTERPRISE — A three-year decline in the number of estate gifts given to the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home has left trustees with a $500,000 budget shortfall for 1999 and the task of making cuts in the budget without reducing the number of children the home can accommodate, according to the Rev. David McEntire, pastor of United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches and chairperson of the Children’s Home board of trustees.

umchildrenshomesm.jpg (32205 bytes) "Since 1991, the home has been receiving an average of about $1 million per year in undesignated estates," he said. "Two years ago, the bottom fell out, and that giving dropped by two-thirds. The next year it was down by three-quarters. This year we’ll get less than a quarter of what we used to get."

The problem, McEntire said, is that "not as many people are dying that put the Children’s Home in their wills."

"It may be an anomaly or it may be a trend," he said. "The bottom line is…estate giving is down, and the Children’s Home is hurt."

McEntire said he is thankful for the support of Florida Conference churches, which have been increasing their giving to the Children’s Home by about 3 percent per year for the past several years.

"Their giving is up," he said. "Unfortunately, it doesn’t match the loss in undesignated estates."

Compounding the problem of the lost income is an increase in operating costs, such as liability insurance, utilities, house parent wages and medical costs, McEntire said.

The Home’s board met to discuss the shortfall and decided to cut $200,000 from the budget, McEntire said. The board met again Oct. 11 and cut an additional $350,000.

"We’re looking to cut half a million out of an annual budget of $4.8 million," McEntire said. "Can we do that without affecting the care of the children? My goal is not to lose a single bed. I don’t want to say to any child, ‘We can’t afford you.’ "

According to McEntire, income for the Children’s Home’s operating expenses comes from gifts from individuals and churches, including the four Fifth Sunday Offerings; the government; and undesignated estate gifts.

Estate gifts are contributions to the Children’s Home through people’s wills. They can be designated for a specific purpose, such as building a new cottage or renovating a building, or undesignated to be used for daily operating expenses, McEntire said.