FEELING THE PINCH: Valley charities say people are tapped out, when it comes to donating

As the holiday season approaches, some local non-profit organizations are feeling the pinch.

With so many natural disasters in 2017, from deadly hurricanes, to devastating wildfires in California and elsewhere, many Arizonans are feeling tapped out, when it comes to donating.

"We went into the holiday season a few steps behind," said Jerry Brown with St. Mary's Food Bank.

Many organizations, like St. Mary's Food Bank, are discovering that many Arizonans have already donated to other relief efforts. In St. Mary's case, the organization sent 100,000 lbs of food to Texas following Hurricane Harvey, which left them in a deficit.

"A lot of the trucks of food we normally receive as donations went immediately to those areas, and that left us a little short coming into the year," said Brown.

"A majority of our support comes from private donations from the public," said Tina Lopez with the organization Save The Family. The non-profit provides housing and other services for homeless individuals. They are also dealing with a lack of donations.

"We have donors that have supported us at a high level for many years who have said that they're not going to be able to support us, because of everything else that's been happening in the world," said Lopez.

The lack of funding, said Lopez, is concerning.

"It puts us in a predicament, because we rely so heavily on public donations for our support," said Lopez.

For those feeling like giving this holiday season, but are financially strapped, United Blood Services says they, too, are in need of blood donations. Blood donations are free.

United Blood Services
http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/

Red Cross Blood Donation
http://www.redcross.org/give-blood

St. Mary's Food Bank
http://www.firstfoodbank.org/

Save The Family Foundation of Arizona
https://savethefamily.org/