Manoa resident Mary Hendrickson made a donation to Hurricane Katrina victims earlier in the year but she still makes sure to contribute to charities in Hawai'i this holiday season.

"I give what I can," Hendrickson said yesterday after she stuffed a dollar bill into the Salvation Army's red kettle at the Kaheka Street Daiei. "I think it's important to take care of the land, the people, one another, to be caring. ... I feel that when the occasion presents itself, it behooves one to respond."

Residents like Hendrickson — who said she also writes checks to the Salvation Army and other local charities — are giving hope to Hawai'i's nonprofit groups, which were concerned that relief efforts following natural disasters this year would detract from donations that would normally go to local charities.

While some Hawai'i nonprofit groups say they are still behind their goals for this year, they noted that thanks to the generosity of Hawai'i's residents, they have not seen the significant drop in donations they had feared.

The Salvation Army's red-kettle donations this holiday season through Sunday are up nearly 4 percent over the same period last year, said spokesman Daniel De Castro.

"In light of all the hurricanes that happened this year, ... we were kind of apprehensive about what the holiday season was going to bring in terms of donations to red kettles," De Castro said. "And we're delighted to find out that people here in Hawai'i remain consistently generous. ... It's kind of a nice relief to know that people here in Hawai'i remain generous to help the local folks."

But that doesn't mean people should stop giving, charities said.

Aloha United Way's donations are a little behind last year's, said Lisa Cripe, assistant vice president of communications. But she's hopeful that last-minute donations will help the organization meet its goals.

"Right now we're kind of asking people for an end of the year push, and they're giving," she said. "We've just been reminding people that if they can submit now, they'll be able to get in the 2005 tax year and that the holidays are a really good time for giving and it kind of makes for a good holiday gift for people."

Cripe said many companies and others recognized that the hurricane relief might siphon money that would otherwise go to local charities, and are trying to make a bigger commitment this year.

"Even though some people are kind of tapped out on resources, other people are really trying hard to make up the difference," she said. "Even with all the hurricanes and tsunamis, we still are doing well. We want to raise at least as much as last year because the needs are becoming greater and greater in the community.

"People are really coming through. We haven't yet met our goal but we're hopeful that people will help us make up the difference."

At the Institute for Human Services, officials said the agency is still about $100,000 short of its $300,000 end-of-the-year fund-raising campaign goal.

The agency's needs and programs have grown this year, said Elizabeth Stevenson, IHS director of development and communications.

"We have more subsidized housing," Stevenson said. "We've got counselors providing long-term support to people out in housing. We didn't have that going on in prior years."

But like Cripe, Stevenson is optimistic that end-of-the-year donations will help the agency meet its target.

"People really wait until the last minute," she said. "When I looked at the last day of the year last year, on the single day of the 31st we brought in about $40,000. ... Everybody's scrambling to get it in before the close of the calendar year."

Stevenson also said while the average gift amount is smaller this year, more gifts are coming in.

"My concern was it was like a perfect storm — the Katrina giving, typically gifts are less in times of war and then our executive director (Lynn Maunakea) leaving," she said. "It was kind of a triple threat there. And I think that people got the message and understand that we needed their dollars to keep the doors open.

"They're still generous," she said. "They came through for us. We're really, really grateful."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.