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According to Maine social welfare officials, tough economic times may just be beginning for many in the Bangor area who rely on food and housing aid.
Recent signs this week from the federal government indicate that the U.S. economy has improved production in virtually every sector. Unemployment still remains high — 9.2 percent before seasonal adjustment. Maine’s figures are slightly better, with the state’s unemployment rate calculated at 8.5 percent. However, United States Department of Labor figures show this figure is up from 6.8 percent in October.
Despite the long-term benefits of the economic turnaround, changes will not reach the average worker for some time, according to Executive Director of Manna Ministries Bill Rae.
Manna provides resources for the poor, unemployed and homeless. In addition to the soup kitchen at the organization’s Bangor center, Manna also operates a food pantry for recipients to pickup a grocery bag’s worth of food once a week. Manna is not funded by the state of Maine; it receives all of its donations from private individuals and corporate fundraisers.
Since February, Manna has extended services to an additional 100 families and individuals, bringing the total recipients to more than 300 in the Bangor area. With each grocery bag weighing around 30 pounds, Manna hands out roughly 9,000 pounds of food each week.
The only requirement for receiving aid is need — in Rae’s words, “If you’re hungry, we’re going to help you.”
Despite an increase in donations from previous years, Rae said that, with the end of “guilt season,” which he referred to as the months following Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, public interest in the issue has decreased as need for help has risen.
Complicating the picture is the increase in costs families are forced to pay in spring. During winter, the law prohibits utilities companies from turning off services like heating and plumbing. With the change in seasons, however, families are forced to pay past-due bills or lose those services.
Additional increases in the cost of gasoline, historically more expensive in the summer months, contribute to rises in food prices. For minimum wage employees or the unemployed, increased expenses often come at the cost of putting food on the table, forcing families to look to agencies for assistance.
“It all trickles down to the food pantry. We’re the safety net. Right now, the net is okay — people aren’t falling through. In the next few weeks, if we don’t get food the gaps will widen,” Rae said.
According to Shawn Yardley, director of Bangor’s Health and Community Services, Rae’s assessment is consistent with the trend he has seen over the last six months. Last year, Bangor’s General Assistance fund, partially paid for by the state government, gave out roughly $2.2 million in 1,600 registered cases, representing some 2,700 people.
In Maine, the state covers half of the General Assistance funds to towns and cities. Once a certain amount of the money requested is exceeded —$750,000 in Bangor’s case — Maine will grant 90 percent of needed funds.
That figure is likely to increase by $300,000 this year, partly due to 65 new requests for General Assistance from December 2010 to January 2011 alone. Demand for aid is so high, Yardley said, there is a four-to-five-week waiting period just to hear new cases.
Unlike Manna, General Assistance primarily covers housing expenses. Last year $1.7 million went to provide housing vouchers, Yardley said. The remaining $500,000 went to pay for other necessities ranging from food, diapers, bus tickets, utilities to funeral costs.
Yardley said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the situation has worsened since winter.
“I think in Bangor we have a population of homeless, of people who work multiple part-time jobs, and I think that people living on the edge are susceptible to layoffs, reduced hours,” he said. “They’re working minimum wage jobs and it doesn’t take much for them to become eligible for General Assistance.”
In the Bangor area, unemployment increased from 4,998 to 5,595 from December 2010 to February 2011, a trend generally consistent with Maine and U.S. figures. Those figures do not represent all Mainers eligible for aid, many of whom are employed but unable to keep up with costs.
“Someone making minimum wage in Maine makes around $300 a week, about $1200 a month. If the average rent in Bangor is $600-900 and that person loses their hours, they will have a hard time maintaining their housing,” Yardley said.
Rae agreed, adding that there was a misunderstanding of who received help.
“Food isn’t going to the homeless, but the working poor and the elderly. The homeless need a place to live. These people already have a house — they have no food. It’s very important that people understand whom we’re feeding.
“We’re not feeding the guy under the bridge, because he has nowhere to cook,” Rae said. “We’re feeding the guy in the apartment who’s going to lose their apartment if they can’t figure out how to pay for food.”
