In 2007, Steve Wertheim at United Way's First Call for Help line was dealing with a record year of calls from Northeast Ohioans looking for food, shelter, or help paying utility bills. The toll-free hotline got nearly 150,000 calls. Then 2008 hit. Calls went up about 20 percent.
Steve Wertheim: In light of what's going on in the economy it's not surprising. What is surprising for us is when we see things like food pantries go from 17,000 to 30,000 calls. In one year, that's an 82 percent increase.
The number of people looking for help finding a job in 2008 is up over 90 percent from 2007. Record numbers of people also called looking for help paying utility bills or finding a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Wertheim says public assistance organizations are surviving the heightened demand and tight economy for now, though the Cleveland Hunger Network says some food pantries closed early in January because they ran out of food.
Steve Wertheim: At a time when we need it most we are seeing a cut in social services. The key for trying to service this population is to survive in 2009 and hopefully see better times in 2010.
Callers looking for help with troubled home loans were on the decline in 2008. But, Wertheim says, the financial collapse that began last fall pushed the foreclosure help calls back up.