When members of the United Way of Southern Windsor County met for their annual meeting in Ludlow in March, it should have been cause for celebration as this year marks the chapter's 50th anniversary. Instead, Board President Steve Hier told members the board had voted to cease operations Dec. 31 due to a decline in contributions and volunteers.

This United Way, based in Springfield, isn't the only nonprofit community organization facing an economic crisis. Many Vermont charities and nonprofit agencies that assist the poor, the hungry and the homeless, are seeing a decline in charitable contributions. At the same time, they are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of individuals and families seeking services.

The United Way of Southern Windsor County was unable to meet its annual fundraising goal of $115,000. Forty years ago, the same organization raised $86,000, which adjusted for inflation would be over $500,000 today.

"I don't think there's a nonprofit that's not affected," said Mary Helen Hawthorne, that United Way's executive director. "Nationwide, at every level, the downturn in the economy combined with rising fuel costs is affecting everyone. It's unbelievable. Who would have ever thought you would be paying $4 a gallon for gasoline? And the people who feel the pinch first are the poor."

Rising gas prices have sent many people to charities and nonprofits for assistance.

Melinda Bussino, executive director for the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center, said that over the past few weeks, as gas prices have climbed 30 to 40 cents a gallon, she has seen a sharp rise in the number of people seeking fuel assistance, not for their homes but for their cars. Bussino said her organization only provides money for gas to individuals who are living in their cars so that they can stay warm.

"People are coming in looking for gas money," said Bussino. "They say they can't fill up their tanks to go to work. We must have four or five people coming in every day looking for gas money."

The Brattleboro nonprofit is facing the near-impossible task of trying to serve more people with less money, Bussino said.

"In terms of donations," Bussino said, "private donations are down in numbers and the donation amounts are down, too. The number of donors who can give are down compared to the last couple of years and people are giving less. Some donors are giving from the profits from their stocks, and with stock values down and interest rates dropping they are making less money."

While the shelter is receiving less aid, there are more people seeking the shelter's services. Bussino said that between 2006 and 2007, she has seen a 25 percent increase in the number of people turning to the food shelf for help, including an 11 percent increase in first-time recipients.

Bussino also has seen a 26 percent increase in the number of people who are either homeless or looking for help to keep from becoming homeless.

Between January and March, the Morningside Shelter, a 19-bed facility in Brattleboro, had a total of five empty bed nights and 58 calls for people looking for shelter.

During that time, the First Baptist Church in town opened its doors as an overflow shelter and provided 679 bed nights for people 18 and older.

One night in February, Bussino conducted an informal survey of people staying in the shelter. Of the 12 people she spoke with, six were working full time and three had college degrees.

"What we're seeing are people like you and me on a bad day," Bussino said.

Now that the weather has grown warmer, people have left the overflow shelter have moved back outdoors. On April 26, a weekly survey found 34 homeless people living in Brattleboro, either in their cars, in tents by the railroad tracks or on the street.

Bussino said the heavy rain on April 28-29 depleted the center of tarps that homeless people use to shelter campsites from the rain.

"I think the current economy is going to continue to crunch people because as a country we are not focused on helping the poor or the sick," Bussino said. "Instead, we blame them for being in the situation they're in."

Poverty is not confined to Brattleboro; it's a statewide epidemic that is on the rise, said Sen. Douglas Racine, D-Richmond. In 2007, Racine co-chaired the Vermont Child Poverty Council to assess poverty statewide. Between October and November, the council convened meetings in all 14 Vermont counties with representatives from homeless shelters, food shelves and religious leaders to learn what they were seeing as they helped those people most in need.

"What we found is that the need has increased," Racine said. "More intact families are showing up to shelters because they can't make their rent."

Racine said 15 percent of Vermont's children are living in poverty and 40 percent are living in low-income households, defined as 200 percent below the federal poverty line.

Racine, who expects to complete a report of the council's findings next month, said early childhood education is a vital part of breaking the cycle of poverty.

"The key for kids to get out of poverty is a good education," Racine said. "When kids start out in poverty they're already behind."

Simply finding a place to live in the state is no easy task, according to the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign. By state, Vermont has the second tightest rental market in the country, with only a 4.9 percent vacancy rate in 2007. Vermont also has the highest rate of homelessness of the New England states and the average length of time people are spending in shelters has grown longer, from 11 days in 2000 to 33 days in 2008.

In Bennington and Rutland counties, more people are seeking assistance from agencies that are coping with declining donations, said Pamela Shambo, development specialist for BROC-Community Action in Southwestern Vermont, which helps poor people with job training, budget counseling, microbusiness development and housing.

"Contributions for our membership drive are down and I think it's because of the economy, which in turn affects the people we serve," Shambo said, "and as the economy gets worse we're seeing more people looking for help."

Shambo cited diminishing employment prospects and rising utility costs as the reason BROC has seen more people seeking assistance.

"The lack of jobs in the area are hurting a lot of people and the jobs that are available are usually minimum wage," Shambo said, "and the cost of fuel – whether it's gas or propane – anything over $3 is going to hurt people."

Shambo said she is seeing people coming to BROC with electric bills in excess of $2,000 for the winter, and while Shambo said BROC "can't begin to touch a bill that size," they will talk to CVPS about reducing bills.

Shambo said while state law prohibits utilities from disconnecting service during the winter, with the onset of warmer weather, many people will receive disconnect notices in the next few weeks.

Shambo said private donations (which are down 5 percent) are important because they are used to help people who earn just above the eligibility threshhold for income-specific grant dollars. The donations, Shambo said, help working families that can't make ends meet.

In Bennington, more people are seeking shelter, said Kendy Skidmore, executive director for Bennington Coalition for the Homeless.

"We've seen an increase in working individuals who are not earning enough to make their rent," Skidmore said.

For the last 10 years, the Bennington Coalition for the Homeless has operated 6 Bank Street, a 13-bed shelter for families. In November, it opened the Thatcher House, which provides shelter to up to 13 individuals.

Skidmore said while she has seen a decrease in support from individual donors, she also has seen an increase in support from churches and businesses.

While many organizations have seen a decline in donations, those who have not are bracing themselves for the possibility of having to make do with fewer donations.

"We haven't seen it yet, but we're planning to see it," said Sally Ballin, development director for the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) in Burlington. "We have seen a steady increase in people seeking our services over the last decade and we anticipate we will receive, if not fewer donations, smaller ones."

COTS operates four shelters in the Burlington area, providing overnight lodging for both families and individuals, as well as a day shelter.

Ballin said COTS relies entirely on donations. If contributions dry up she will have to look elsewhere for funds. "COTS is the last resort for people so we can't cut services," Ballin said.

More Vermonters are simply looking for food, said Douglas O'Brien, executive director of the Vermont Foodbank in Barre.

"The most immediate thing we're seeing is the demand for food assistance around the state," O'Brien said. "There's an increase in demand that's driven by the economy both here and across the country."

O'Brien said two-thirds of the food distributed through food pantries statewide comes from the Vermont Foodbank, which works with 270 partner agencies statewide, and all food pantries, large or small, are seeing an increase in demand.

The Chittenden Emergency Food shelf in Burlington now is serving 11,000 families a month, compared to 9,000 families a month last August. The Middlesex Food Shelf provided food to 40 families in February, compared to 19 families a month last summer.

In 2007, 66,000 people – or one in 10 Vermont residents – visited a food shelf in the state. The number of people using food stamps is rising, as well, O'Brien said, from 46,000 people in 2007 to 56,000 in March 2008.

O'Brien said rising fuel costs have forced the food bank to shift the source of its food. It now costs twice as much, for example, to ship a truckload of surplus grapefruit from Florida, O'Brien said.

Food pantries across the state are reporting people frequenting the pantry more often, and a surge in first-time visits.

"We've seen a dramatic increase in families coming in for the first time," said Tom Ketteridge, managing director of the Upper Valley Haven in White River Junction, which operates a homeless shelter and a food shelf. "Every day we have people who come in and ask how the food shelf works."

Susan Bassett, coordinator for the Rutland Community Cupboard, said she is not only seeing new people, but a new kind of people: folks working full time but can't afford to buy food.

"The face of who is using the food shelves is changing," Bassett said. "They're like you. They're your neighbors but they've fallen on hard times."

As bad as things appear in Vermont, a trip to the Open Door Mission in Rutland reveals things might be worse elsewhere. "The war is sending us more veterans that are damaged goods," said Sharon Russell, executive director of the Open Door Mission. "In the 20 years I've been doing this, this is the worst I've seen it."

Matthew Smith, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, arrived in Vermont from Michigan in April. Like many veterans staying at the mission, Smith said he came to Vermont because of the quality of care at the White River Junction Veterans Administration Medical Center.

"The VA in Detroit wanted to put you on medication and go away," Smith said. "I want to get back to being normal, whatever that is for me."

Smith said he believes the downturn in the economy has resulted in more homeless people.

"I think the recession hit Michigan three years ago," Smith said. "You started seeing a lot more people on the streets."

Steve Tilton, a Vietnam veteran from Manchester, N.H., arrived in Vermont March 6.

"This is one of the best missions I've been in," Tilton said, noting that it is safe and he didn't worry about having his property stolen. "We're the fortunate ones. We have a good place here. It's safe and secure."

Contact Josh O'Gorman at josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com.