Local agencies are struggling to fill the need

Ruth Lockard is living life on the edge, financially, physically and emotionally.

Limited by physical ailments that affect their ability to work, Lockard and her husband are running out of money well before they run out of monthly bills.

"Once we get the rent paid, the car insurance and pay for gas, we're pretty much broke," Lockard said earlier this week while waiting in line for food assistance at Sunnyside Ministries of the Moravian Church in Winston-Salem. Food is available there to qualified people every 30 days.

"We're behind enough on our power bill that it's up to $600, and we've got to come up with $200 by April 1 or they're going to turn off the lights," Lockard said. "We're struggling to come up with help for our prescription drugs. I'm taking 13 drugs, and my doctor wants to put me on another one."

They were doing OK until their car stopped working.

"When that happened, it tipped us over, and we've been struggling to get back on our feet ever since," she said. "While our run of bad luck has been tough, there are so many people worse off than us. We don't want to take away from them."

The Lockards aren't alone in the Triad in facing the potential loss of life's essentials -- food, clothing, shelter, utilities and transportation.

At times, the lines at Sunnyside and Crisis Control Ministry have rivaled those at the local office of the N.C. Employment Security Commission.

Sometimes, people are in line at Sunnyside one day and in line at the employment office the next day.

Crisis Control's mission includes providing financial help to people near or at the point of utility cutoff and eviction from their homes. It has had a 12 percent increase, to 9,308, in the number of people it has served in the first four months of its fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

About 1,765 households were making their first request for assistance, and 53 percent were unemployed, compared with 49 percent in the same period in 2008-09. Assistance for electricity bills is up 41 percent, and assistance for gas and fuel bills is up 46 percent over last year, officials said.

At the same time, local donations have dwindled as more people tighten their own budgets.

"There have been spikes in demand for services and energy-bill assistance in the past," said Margaret Elliott, the executive director of Crisis Control. "But typically, they've been matched by increased donations. We're struggling to make that happen now."

Changing the formula

One major factor is that Duke Energy changed the funding formula for its Share the Warmth program in 2008 from customers selecting a crisis-assistance agency for contributions to one based on number of customers in a county and the unemployment rate there.

"Changing the formula allows us to distribute our limited dollars equitably across our entire service territory," said Jason Walls, a spokesman for Duke Energy Corp.

Elliott said that Crisis Control is feeling the effects of the change because it had benefited significantly from customer preference on donations.

She said that the program's contribution to Crisis Control had been $200,000 a year. It is now projected at $100,000 for the next heating season of November 2010 through March 2011.

"We project to be down about $83,000 by the end of March because of the change," Elliott said. "Because the donation has essentially been cut in half, we've got to find new ways to raise funds as we plan future budgets."

Share the Warmth contributions to Sunnyside are down about 20 percent, said Tommy Cole, the director of the ministry, which serves residents in the 27107 and 27127 ZIP codes.

Walls said that although customer donations were up about 7.6 percent for the current heating season, there also was more demand for assistance statewide. Total contributions were $2.38 million, including a matching of customer donations of $500,000 by the Duke Energy Foundation.

"The higher unemployment rates in urban areas put more pressure on funding," Walls said. The program also received an additional $400,000 from the foundation for the winter of 2008-09.

More people in need

The increase in demand is not surprising, economists say, considering that the Triad hit at least a 41-year high in its jobless rate at 12.2 percent in January.

Add in people who are underemployed -- working in jobs below their skill level or less than 40 hours a week -- and those who have stopped looking for work, and the jobless rate could be at least 15 percent.

The N.C. Budget and Tax Center reported that Forsyth County had the lowest median household income -- and the highest percentage of residents living in poverty -- of the state's five largest urban counties for 2008 and 2009.

Even though warmer weather is arriving in the Triad, crisis-agency officials say that there will be no lull in the need for assistance.

Part of the reason is logistical. Duke Energy can take up to three months before deciding to cut off a customer's services, so people who stopped paying their bills in January because of a lack of money may not face the cutoff until March or April.

Sunnyside provides financial help once every six months, Cole said, and the amount is typically what is needed to prevent cutoff or eviction.

Cole said that first-time requests represented 36 percent of the 6,101 interviews for assistance it conducted in 2009. It has had a 22 percent increase in interviews in January and February, or up about 200 from the same time last year.

In 2009, Sunnyside provided services valued at about $1 million, primarily going to food, utility, fuel and housing costs. It received 42 percent of its $737,972 in financing from churches, 24 percent from foundations, 22 percent from individuals and 8 percent from the Duke Energy program.

Another reason for the increase in utility cutoffs is the waves of cold weather and winter storms pushed the average Duke Energy bill statewide in January to $166.75, up 32 percent from January 2009.

Walls said that Duke made 18,212 disconnects statewide in November, 15,252 in December and 13,484 in January. The company said it is expanding the reach of its program for extended-payment plans for some customers.

The cold weather put a strain on the poor insulation and inefficient heating units in some rental properties, causing some monthly power bills to soar into the $300 to $700 range, Cole said.

"Those things are systemic problems that only add to the economic challenges these clients face," he said.

Crisis is struggling

The increased demand has Crisis Control struggling with its budget -- off as much as $150,000 at times compared with last year -- and considering reducing or eliminating some services.

"We've applied for more grants, we're brainstorming for more ways to raise funds and calling on more community resources," Elliott said. "We've made adjustments with our costs."

United Way of Forsyth County responded to a recent Crisis Control request for emergency assistance by providing $75,000.

"We know this is not a one-time request or situation, but merely our response for this time," said Eric Aft, the chief operating officer for the United Way chapter. The agency is working with the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation and Winston-Salem Foundation to respond to local requests.

Cynthia Fearrington, the director of client services for Crisis Control, said that the agency makes financial-assistance decisions on an individual-case basis. From Oct. 1 through Feb. 28, it paid 502 electric bills and 172 fuel bills -- both up significantly from last year.

"Many people, especially in today's economy, need assistance several times before they are out of crisis," Fearrington said.

Any restrictions could leave Valeria Robinson and her four children in the cold financially. Robinson received financial help from Sunnyside in November, Cole said.

Because she has not had any luck finding work in her field, dry cleaning, she is applying at fast-food restaurants. Robinson said that her current power bill is $616, and that she is also behind on the rent for her two-bedroom house and her water bill.

"All of this is just one constant headache in my life," Robinson said. "It's frustrating to the heavens. I'm doing everything I can to pay my bills down, but when you're broke, you're broke."

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