Social-service organizations and soup kitchens in Raleigh are reporting longer lines and increased demand in recent months as the effects of the economic slump continues to unfold locally.<\/p>\n
The Salvation Army of Wake County in particular reports a 30 percent increase in demand for its services.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would be surprised of the demographic of people coming in now, \u201c said Paige Bagwell with the Salvation Army of Wake County. \u201cWe are seeing more people that we have ever seen before, that might not have ever had to ask us for help.\u201c<\/p>\n
Bagwell is referring to white-collar workers; some who may have had their hours cut at work and can\u2019t make their mortgage payments. She said that many have full-time jobs, homes and bills to pay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are just not seeing the income they are used to and have to make ends meet,\u201d Bagwell explained.<\/p>\n
Through its crisis assistance program, the Salvation Army provides financial help for people with past due utility bills and rent. It also operates a soup kitchen Monday through Friday and stocks a food pantry available Tuesday and Thursday to a limited number of individuals and families in need. Bagwell said she has seen a higher demand for these services in particular.<\/p>\n
The Shepherd\u2019s Table Soup Kitchen has experienced a similar spike in attendance. In late February, the group held the largest lunch service in its 29-year history – a record of 393 meals.<\/p>\n
Tamara Gregory, executive director of the nonprofit organization located on the corner of Morgan and McDowell streets in downtown Raleigh shared her concern. \u201cA lot of our folks never thought they would be here,\u201d she remarked.<\/p>\n
Like Bagwell, Gregory has also noticed a changing pattern in demographics during the organization\u2019s daily lunch service, reporting a 12 percent increase in white-collar attendance.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit organization serves a hot mid-day meal Monday through Friday to anyone who walks through its doors. The lunch line, which traditionally begins to form on Morgan Street by 9:30 a.m., is forming an hour earlier than usual, Gregory said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t let anyone go without a meal. We don\u2019t turn anyone away,\u201d Gregory said.<\/p>\n
A daily staff of 26 volunteers typically serves 1800 pounds of food a week, but is currently dolling out 2300 pounds to curb the hunger of a growing lunch line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to let them feel like they are guests in our kitchen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe demand for our services is growing,\u201d said Bruce Storer, director of development for the Raleigh Rescue Mission. \u201cThere are a whole lot more people out there that are becoming homeless because their financial road is collapsing on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Located on East Hargett Street, the Raleigh Rescue Mission offers a long-term recovery program and emergency shelter for poor and homeless men, women and children.<\/p>\n
Storer describes a common financial scenario for many who can\u2019t support themselves or their families during tough economic times. \u201cThere are a lot of people living so close to the edge [financially.] It doesn\u2019t take long for the domino effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He notes that many individuals who are \u201cdoubled-up\u201d by staying with a friend or relative, can also be affected. \u201cWhen the economy really hurts, people can\u2019t afford to have them stay,\u201d Storer added.<\/p>\n
Doing more with less<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite serving lunches to record numbers, The Shepherd\u2019s Table is experiencing a downturn in donations.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people are saying they just can\u2019t give what they gave last year. Many companies are having to make tough decisions between their employees and philanthropy,\u201d said Gregory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a kind of perverse situation; our economy is really suffering, and so are local businesses. In that climate, demand for their services falls- and this is not so for us,\u201d Storer said.<\/p>\n Among its forecasts for philanthropic giving in 2009, the LBG Research Institute projects a modest increase in corporate giving to organizations that provide basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are just asking people to support us as they can,\u201d Storer added. \u201cIt is difficult to ask people in this climate to give more.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Storer, in-kind donations are particularly vital and the rescue mission is managing expenses aggressively to compensate for any dropping income.<\/p>\n On the flip side, an encouraging report reveals The Salvation Army of Wake County received a nine percent increase in donations during the 2008 Christmas season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just pray we can offer a little bit of hope and comfort for whatever people are going through,\u201d Bagwell mentioned.<\/p>\n Despite the downturn in donations to her organization, Gregory remains optimistic. \u201cWe are pretty fortunate, we haven\u2019t seen our pantry get empty yet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social-service organizations and soup kitchens in Raleigh are reporting longer lines and increased demand in recent months as the effects of the economic slump continues to unfold locally. (Left: The Saturday morning line at the Salvation Army soup kitchen in downtown Raleigh. Photo by Christie Starnes.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24013,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23],"tags":[1868,43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}