(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-13 22:55

Each of the charities will get about $1 million to $2 million. The recipients include a food bank, a women's center, a group for the blind and three universities.

The city - and the entire county of 280,000 - could clearly use the money.

Erie was once a bustling iron and steel town, and later also made machinery, plastics, paper and furniture. But many factories eventually closed or moved overseas. The paper mill, which employed more than 2,000 people in the 1950s, shut down in 2002 after more than 100 years in business.

The city has a growing service industry and has tried to remake itself as a tourist destination with a new slots casino. But its poverty rate is about 19 percent, or twice the national average, median household income is $31,196, versus $48,451 nationally, and as of 2006, it had an estimated 400 homeless people.

"What a godsend for some of these agencies, because I know a lot of them struggle," says Pam VanHorn, as her 5-year-old autistic daughter, Abigail, rides a scooter-like contraption at a playroom at the Achievement Center.

Some charity officials fear that other people will see the large donation and decide their small contributions aren't needed. But Batchelor says that's not what Anonymous Friend intended at all: "I know that the donor hopes this will inspire others to give within their means."

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