Calls for food, bill assistance climbing

Published 9:22 pm Saturday, June 14, 2008

The number of people who called a hotline asking for help in feeding their families nearly doubled during the first five months of this year compared to last year.

Food banks and social service agencies throughout the county are seeing a spike is requests for food as well as vouchers for gas and, with this spring’s unusually cool weather, help paying heating bills.

“When you see an increase in some area like gasoline, it all trickles down with food prices,” said Dana Libby, who helps lead the Salvation Army chapter in Everett.

“If you’re paying 30 percent to 40 percent of your income for housing costs, that 10 percent increase in food bills can be enough to push you right out of housing,” Libby said.

Earlier this month, staff at the YWCA of Snohomish County began to notice people coming to counseling appointments who hadn’t had enough to eat that day.

“It’s never been the case before,” said Jude Beck, contracts coordinator. “People are using whatever resources they have to feed their kids and (the parents) are skipping meals. People can’t concentrate on mental health issues if they’re hungry.”

The county’s social service hotline, 211, not only tells callers where they can get help, it tallies both the number of calls and types of requests it gets. This allows social service agencies to track which services are in highest demand.

“Our call volumes have just been going crazy, way higher than last year,” said Bill Brackin, program director.

Overall, calls during the first five months of the year increased nearly 58 percent over the same period last year, he said.

In addition to this upward trend, requests for help in some specific categories shot up.

For example, calls asking for help obtaining food increased to 1,020 between January and May this year from 528 during the same period last year.

Calls were also up for emergency shelter, and the waiting list has now grown to nearly 1,700 people, Brackin said.

And twice as many people requested help paying home heating bills in April, compared to the same month last year.

The Everett Food Bank, run by Volunteers of America, saw the number of requests for assistance jump from 2,391 households in March to 2,537 in May.

Other area food banks are experiencing increases, too, said Sharon Paskewitz, director of basic needs for Volunteers of America.

The organization is also trying to meet increasing requests for help paying for gas to get to work or to get them through to the next payday, she said.

Until recently, the organization spent about $700 a month on gas vouchers. In May the organization handed out a little more than $2,000 in vouchers, she said. Averaging about $28 each, it paid for about seven gallons of gas.

Margaret Smith, director of emergency services at Westgate Chapel in Edmonds, said she’s seen an increase in requests for emergency shelter, and help paying rent and utility bills.

“I think it’s totally the economy,” she said. “They have to make a decision on whether to pay a bill or have food.”