In 18 years of running Francis House, a C street refuge for the down and out in Sacramento, director Gregory Bunker has never seen so many desperate people.
They start forming a ragged line around 8 most mornings, 90 minutes or more before the charity opens its doors.
"For the first time ever, 20 or 30 people are inside the gate before we open for the day," Bunker said. Some wait for hours to get a referral for a bag of food, or a $10 gas voucher. Some get turned away.
Hammered by $50 fill-ups and $3 gallons of milk, more and more people classified as "the working poor" are swelling the ranks of clients at agencies like Francis House. At the same time, charities are struggling with shrinking budgets, higher food and fuel prices and fewer donations, according to Bunker and others.
"It's a vicious circle," said Dave Martinez, interim director of the Placer Food Bank. "More people are coming in, and we have less to give them."
Francis House is facing an unprecedented $80,000 budget deficit and a 25 percent increase in demand for its services, and will soon end its gas voucher program. River City Community Services in midtown has seen a 40 percent jump in clientele since last fall. Wellspring Women's Center in Oak Park is seeing at least 50 more people each day than it did a year ago. Virtually every food pantry contacted by The Bee is feeling the pinch of a poor economy and skyrocketing costs for basic staples.
"Last Saturday, we fed almost 200 families, and a lot of them told us that they were working full time and just not making it," said Blake Young, director of the Sacramento Food Bank. "They need us to help them get through the month."
Time of anxiety
Similar scenarios are playing out across the country, according to Second Harvest, the nation's food bank network. Soaring food and fuel prices, lost jobs, stagnant wages and the mortgage meltdown have sent many working families across the country searching for help, the agency reports. Nearly 40 percent of households served by the network have one or more adults working.
"For the first time in history, our stomachs are competing with our gas tanks," said River City director Eileen Thomas. "I am seeing people who tell me they have never been to a food closet before, and they always come in with an apology. I'm seeing a lot more couples with children. Clearly, they don't know where to turn."
In Placer County, where the home building industry has been hit particularly hard, "we're seeing mostly construction workers, home industry and home improvement workers," said Martinez. "If we can supplement their food, that means a couple more gallons of gas for them so they can get to jobs."
Among those in line at Francis House one morning this week were a former drug counselor with a back injury who is trying to stretch a Social Security check, a young mother whose clerical job at a school district has been suspended for the summer and a laid-off hotel employee who recently sold his car to pay for food and rent. Many of the day's clients said they had never or rarely sought help from social services agencies before.
"It's humiliating," said Melissa Evans, 42, who lives on a Social Security check of about $800 a month because of back problems and bipolar disorder. "But do you know what rent costs? Food? Gas? You just have to put your pride aside and accept what is given to you."
At her lowest points, Evans said, she panhandles money to fill her gas tank and buy dinner. "Without agencies like this," she said, "some of us would be dead. Things have got to change in this country."
Edie Spiller, 21, bounced her baby boy, Lakai, on her lap as she waited for help getting a California ID and a gas voucher. Spiller was working at an after-school program that shut down two weeks ago, and will be getting only $44 a week in unemployment payments. She lives downtown with her mother, who is an amputee, and her son.
"I really want to work," Spiller said. "I grew up in Del Paso Heights, mostly on welfare, but I want better for myself and my son." Until she finds a new job, "I will go to food closets and take help wherever I can. I'm stressed out. It's hard."
Call The Bee's Cynthia Hubert, (916)321-1082
