Demand for non-profit help rises sharply as flood, economy pull people under

They went from coping with the aftermath of a massive flood to the worst economy in a generation, and local non-profits are braced for more of the same in 2010.

“Our services are up across all of our program areas,” said Cindy Kaestner, director of the Abbe Center for Community Mental Health. “We certainly expected to see some increase, and it has sustained itself.”

Abbe delivered more than 10,000 hours of outpatient therapy and psychiatric services between July and November, a 25 percent increase over the same period in 2008, Kaestner said. The flood contributed its share of problems, which continued as the recession hit.

“When times get tough with people, stresses increase,” Kaestner said. “Obviously, losing jobs is a major stressor for people, but even people who maintained employment are seeing a reduction in their hours and a reduction in their benefits.”

“Demand is up - way up,” Barb Elsasser, director of the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program's Food Reservoir, wrote in an e-mail.

HACAP's 51 reporting food pantries served 53,422 people in the last quarter of 2009, a 35 percent increase over the previous year. The agency supplies food pantries in Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn and Washington counties. The six HACAP-affiliated soup kitchens delivered 53,684 meals over the same period, up 55 percent.

“Most pantries are reporting seeing more first-time users than before,” Elsasser said.

A post-flood jump in calls to Foundation 2's Crisis Center and suicide prevention hot line has continued through 2009, said Deb Peddycoart, the agency's crisis services director.

Calls to the United Way's 211 information and referral line were up 44.5 percent in the last six months of 2009 compared with the same period the previous year. Operators handled 5,986 calls from 24 counties in December, a 38 percent jump over December 2008, said Chris Juett, 211 program manager.

That increase is mostly because of economic-related issues, said Juett, adding flood-related calls are down to about one a day. In December, most callers - 2,114 - were about heating assistance.

“We've seen a shift, with a lot more calls around housing issues,” said Lois Buntz, executive director of the United Way of East Central Iowa.

Staff at the St. Luke's Child Protection Center interviewed 144 children this July, compared with 114 the month after the flood, said director Sue Tesdahl.

“About a year out is when they begin to see the effects,” Tesdahl said.

Like Kaestner, Tesdahl noted many displaced families “doubled up” with relatives and friends in the flood's wake, developing stress factors that contribute to abuse.

“A variety of emotional stressors, such as a sense of disempowerment, depression, anxiety and the lack of social supports, can often serve as triggers for physical and sexual abuse against the most vulnerable members of a household - the children,” Tesdahl wrote in an e-mail.

Clients in the consumer credit counseling program at the Horizons family service alliance jumped 74 percent, said Scott Shook, the program's director. Clients with housing issues are up 120 percent.

“It was kind of a triple whammy,” said Shook. “A lot of those folks affected by the flood were already pretty good candidates for credit counseling just because of the economy. The flood kind of put them over the edge.”

Horizons received state and city grants specifically to serve flood-affected residents but demand continues to increase among all residents still waiting to see an economic recovery.

“We do not expect to see a turnaround any time soon, because people are still losing jobs, having their hours cut and dealing with utility and housing costs,” said HACAP's Elsasser.