August 12, 2010; Source: Thousand Oaks Acorn | The collection of nonprofits providing services from the Under One Roof building in Thousand Oaks, Calif. has lost one of its own. Catholic Charities closed its office there. The organization had offered food, shelter, clothing, eviction-prevention assistance, backpacks filled with school supplies for low income children, assistance with payments for utilities and car repairs, and Christmas toys for kids from the rent-free location.

It sounds like a valuable service, but a regional director of Catholic Charities said that by saving $40,000 annually by closing the office “we can better spend providing services to those who need it.” Does that mean that the people who came to the Conejo Valley office didn’t need the services they got? From July last year through June of 2010, the Catholic Charities office served 6,000 people. Something doesn’t add up.

Now $40,000 for all of that sounds like a great deal of service to people in need. The people who no longer have access to Catholic Charities have been coming in to the Lutheran Social Services office for assistance. “It’s going to be hard. We’ll do the best we can to deal with it,” an LSS spokesperson said. NPQ feels that there is a trend afoot. Stay tuned.—Rick Cohen