Valley municipalities relying more on Good Samaritans

Good Samaritans fill service gaps amid budget cuts
Excerpts from Alia Beard Rau - Nov. 1, 2009   The Arizona Republic

Faced with another year of declining revenue, Arizona municipalities are increasingly relying on the charity of others to meet the needs of residents.  Tempe resident and Care Inc. non-profit founder Jon McHatton has organized volunteers in Tempe, Chandler and Page through his For Our City program.  "Service is a good bridge between the faith community and municipal leaders because it doesn't deal with any issues of church and state," McHatton said. "It just deals with doing what's best for people."  He said the trend of municipal volunteerism is gaining momentum, and each city is using it to serve its greatest needs. 

Tempe's For Our City program has focused on creating emergency-preparedness programs, while the programs started this year in Page and Chandler have so far involved more general volunteer efforts.  "Our goal has been to organize volunteer efforts and determine issues and projects that are bigger than any organization, the city or a group of churches could tackle by themselves," said Kevin Kartke, Trinity Christian Fellowship pastor and Chandler's For Our City director.  Gilbert Mayor John Lewis is hoping the same thing may evolve out of the Gilbert Faith Leadership Summit he has organized for Thursday.