Help-providing agencies getting more calls

Local News

July 8, 2008

Ronnie Ellis The Richmond Register Tue Jul 08, 2008, 09:01 AM EDT

It’s not just the price at the pump. It’s rippling into nearly every segment of the economy.

Christina Bentley expected rising fuel prices to affect Corbin’s United Effort, a community non-profit which provides assistance such as help on utility bills to 5,000 families in Knox, Laurel and Whitley counties and serves as a clearinghouse and referral for several independent food banks. But the way it impacted the lives of her clients surprised her.

“A lot of our clients don’t drive, so it’s not affecting them directly at the pump,” Bentley, 35, said. “It’s affecting them on food.”

She expects it to get worse because utility bills were down during a mild May and people are now receiving tax stimulus checks.

“When you’re living day to day, $600 is a fortune to them,” Bentley said. “They’re just taking a deep breath because their utility bill is down.”

Still, people know that’s going to change and are already calling Bentley to determine what documentation they will need for future requests for help.

“We’re getting an unusual number of calls about future assistance, which tells me people are really nervous,” she said. She’s also getting requests for help to buy gasoline from those who do odd jobs — money either to get them to jobs or to fuel lawn mowers or weed eaters.

The high prices at the pump are also hitting the pantries Bentley’s agency serves. Food costs are up, but it’s costing the pantries more just to collect donated food.

“Most people who donate to pantries want you to come pick it up,” Bentley said. “And at the same time, it costs more to go out to get the food. Volunteers use their own vehicles to do that, and the gasoline is really squeezing the pantries.”

You don’t have to tell Beverly Faulkner that gas prices are driving up requests for food. She is the director of the Corbin Senior Citizens’ Center located next door to Bentley’s agency. The center serves congregate meals for senior citizens and delivers meals to other clients, all provided by contract through the Cumberland Valley Area Development District. But higher food costs — and no increase in funding — mean fewer meals.

“We’re probably going to be serving fewer meals this year,” Faulkner said. “The food costs go up, so the caterer (contracting with the ADD) charges more.”

The center provides limited transportation services for clients, driving some to the center, others to the pharmacy, the doctor or the grocery. So, the center’s fuel costs are increasing, too.

“More are using our van to avoid paying for gas and driving themselves,” she said. “That causes more stops and that raises the center’s cost even more.”

Such non-profit agencies as Girls Inc. in Bowling Green which provides transportation for clients, and multi-county services like those of Barren River Area Safe Space, which serves victims of domestic violence, are hit hard by fuel costs, according to United Way of Southern Kentucky Executive Vice President Debbie Hills.

“We just completed allocating money to our member agencies,” Hills said. “We heard from agency after agency about the impact of gas prices, saying they all put together last year’s budget before this hit and it’s affecting their budgets this year, too.”

United Way of Southern Kentucky has not set its fund raising goal for this fall and the impact of fuel prices on that goal has not been determined. But Hills said it is showing up in one sector of the regional economy — automotive supply manufacturers.

Fuel and energy costs are driving up expenses of employers, and that’s a concern on the fund raising side of United Way. United Way depends on employee giving at major companies and when the economy tanks or consumer confidence drops, employees may be reluctant to give up a portion of their weekly paycheck.

The United Way of Northeast Kentucky, headquartered in Ashland, has not set its fall campaign goal either, according to director Steve Towler. But so far, he said, he remains optimistic and hasn’t seen signs of employment cutbacks at major contributing companies such as King’s Daughters Medical Center, Marathon Petroleum or AK Steel.

“I would be less than honest if I said we weren’t concerned,” Towler said. “But we do not know how this will impact our numbers this fall. I guess I’m guardedly optimistic.”

Towler said economic and outside events don’t always hamper giving. In 2001, after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and subsequent employment cutbacks, charitable giving actually went up, he said, because people realized their help was needed even more in difficult times.

The collection plate at Greenup Christian Church has not seen a dip yet, according to its minister, Bob Hine.

“Other than some older people saying it might affect them because of their tight budgets getting tighter, I just haven’t noticed any correlation between the energy prices and our collection,” Hine said.

Where he has noticed an effect, Hine said, is in individual requests for financial aid, mostly for “gas to get back and forth to work.” One young man had just been hired in a new job, but he needed money to get to work until he gets his first paycheck.

Hine also has seen an increase in children signing up for church camp at Howe’s Mill in Ona, W.Va., and he thinks that may be indirectly related to gas prices.

“Attendance is higher this year, and we think that may be because people aren’t going on family vacations this year,” Hine said.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He may be reached by e-mail at rellis@cnhi.com. The Richmond Register is a CNHI newspaper.

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