Rising demand strains charities’ abilities

Social services programs in Cobb County are trying to help more needy families these days with less money.

The number of people seeking help at the Center for Family Resources increased 30 percent last year, but this year’s budget is $400,000 less than a year ago.

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Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com

Gary Zivitz, a volunteer at the donation center of MUST Ministries in Marietta, pushes a cart of canned goods to the loading dock. Charity groups are struggling to meet demand.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• MUST Ministries, 55 Elizabeth Church Road, Marietta, 770-427-9862; 460 Pat Mell Road, Smyrna, 770-436-9514; 141-B W. Marietta St., Canton, 770-479-5397. www.mustministries.org
• Center for Family Resources, 995 Roswell St., Suite 100, Marietta. 770-428-2601 or www.thecfr.org
• Sweetwater Valley Community Action Mission Program, 6289 Veterans Memorial Highway, Building 12, Austell. 770-819-0662 or www.svcamp.org

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In December, the center, which provides financial assistance, housing and food, laid off four of 30 employees, cut retirement benefits and froze hiring for two vacant positions. It has a $3.28 million budget.

The center receives government funds including federal money for housing programs, but also depends on United Way and loyal donors. CEO Jeri Barr said people are still giving but not as much as in the past.

The group’s largest fund- raiser, an Oscar night benefit in February, brought in $281,000. It raised $350,000 last year.

Other programs helping the poor also are experiencing more pleas for help.

In south Cobb, Sweetwater Valley Community Action Mission Program gave out twice the number of food boxes in January, compared with a year ago.

Requests for food and financial help jumped 50 percent in two years at MUST Ministries in Cobb and Cherokee counties.

And the economy is changing the organizations’ clientele. Family Resources is seeing more first-timers who have never asked for help, and MUST is serving families from east Cobb ZIP codes for the first time.

“This creates a whole, new dynamic of need,” said the Rev. John Moeller, executive director for MUST. “We are not just helping homeless people. We are helping our neighbors.”

Moeller said the increase tugs on this year’s $3.25 million budget, but the agency has not cut its 49-member staff or budget. Food and financial donations are stable, but inventory at the food warehouse dropped to 25 percent of capacity last summer. MUST gives out a ton of food each weekday at three locations.

Darlene Duke, executive director of the Austell agency known as C.A.M.P., said the program, with a $360,000 budget in 2008, was over budget for the past two years and had to pull a total of $40,000 from a reserve fund.

“Our donations are at an all-time high, but it just isn’t enough,” Duke said.

“We are doing everything we can to keep a 40-year pledge to give more and more often.”