Here is a link to our article in the newspaper today! Looks like our attempts to increase public awareness are working!
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/NEWS01/809270329&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
Here is a copy of the article:
CEDAR CITY - Dawna Robinson started working as a food bank coordinator at the Iron County Care and Share because she wanted to help people.
Thanks to a slumping economy, she's helping more people than ever.
Robinson and other members of the Care and Share team celebrated a birthday Friday, commemorating the opening of its new facility one year ago. The new building has made the logistics of storing, managing and distributing food and other goods a lot easier - good timing, considering the demand for food, shelter and other aid has increased by 35 percent since January.
"We've definitely seen a lot of new faces around here," Robinson said. "We're getting 30 to 50 new applicants per week."
According to Department of Workforce Services statistics, unemployment in Iron County increased 1.3 percent from August of 2007 to August of 2008, and construction jobs have taken the biggest hit.
"It's not always easy [making ends meet]," said Joel Lopez, a construction worker who said he has been working away from Cedar City much of the time this year. "That's just where things are at."
Add in rising food costs, gas costs and other associated costs, and households that were scraping by before can no longer make it without some help, said Bill Woods, executive director of the Care and Share.
"We've got more people in the homeless shelter than ever before," he said. "We've got more people asking for assistance and food boxes than ever before. It's just really skyrocketing, and our resources aren't there."
Woods said Care and Share has always helped those at the lowest income levels in the community, but lately people on the next rung up are starting to come in, working people who are simply unable to make ends meet.
In addition, when people have fewer discretionary funds they are less likely to make donations, and the number of regular monetary donations to the Care and Share has been dwindling, Woods said.
Regular food drives still bring in a lot of donations and community response is always positive, Woods said, but when the Care and Share is distributing 25,000 pounds of food every month, it's hard to keep up.
"The danger we're facing, and the tightrope I'm walking, is that you feel like you can only go ask so many times," Woods said.
Care and Share typically brings in about 80 percent of its donations between October and January, Woods said, but this year's holiday season could put a squeeze on the facility's resources.
"The generosity is without question there," he said. "The problem is, so is the increase in need."
