With the economy in recession and unemployment rates creeping higher and higher, many people have been turning to local food banks and charities to supplement basic home needs.

Pike, Mingo, and Martin County charities have not been immune to the economy’s downturn.

“We’ve not been affected very much by the recent economy since most of our clients live on fixed incomes, primarily social security and SSI,” stated Sister Brendan Conlon, director of Christian Help. “Recently though, families who’ve never used our services have increased, primarily because they’ve recently become unemployed.

“We’ve not seen much impact from the recession yet, but we expect to see a decrease in donations in the upcoming months. Our donor base has held steady thus far,” Sister Conlon continued. “We receive donations of food, furniture, and clothes on a regular basis and really had not seen any effects from the recession until very recently.”

Johnny Osborne, volunteer at the Belfry center for the food bank H.O.P.E, Helping Our Poor Exist, echoed Sister Conlon’s sentiment.

“We had been receiving 16 palettes of food every two weeks, but it’s recently been reduced to 12,” Osborne said. “The number of families receiving food from us has increased though, around 250, almost double the amount of people when we were at the old Hardy, Ky., location. We’re still able to provide for all of these families, but you can see how the economy has affected this area.”

H.O.P.E. has seven volunteers at their Belfry location providing food to the surrounding Pike County, Ky area. The volunteers include Osborne, Gertie Bowens, Carl Church, Joe Church, Dave “Bear” Johnson, Bill Marcum, Ann Osborne and Dave Reed.

The food bank distributes food every Thursday at their Compton Bottom warehouse in Goody, Ky., behind Belfry High School from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

To make donations, please contact Dave Varney at (606) 353-4923.

Christian Help has been assisting the Mingo and Martin (Ky.) counties areas for 15 years from their facility at the corner of Virginia and Lincoln streets in Kermit.

The charity runs entirely on donations and provides the needy with food, clothing, furniture, transit services, and even dentures and dental care.

To make donations, contact Christian Help at (304) 393-4251 or visit their website, www.christianhelp mingo.org.