Poverty's grasp grows wider

from the Myrtle Beach Sun News

Carolinas groups aid rising ranks of poor
By Jason M. Rodriguez
The Sun News

As head of the Brunswick County Family Assistance program, Joe Cannon is used to seeing construction laborers seek help in the slow months.

But in the past six to nine months he began to notice that those seeking assistance rose a work tier to include small contractors. Taking it as a sign that it was time to work harder than ever, his agency began to seek more money from an already ailing economy.

"Quite honestly, we're out there begging for money more than we've ever begged for money before," he said. "What we're seeing as an agency is an explosion in demand in the last year, year and a half.

"We've been on a downhill slide since 2004," he said.

Poverty numbers across the Carolinas have been growing in the past years, according to officials in Horry and Georgetown counties and Brunswick County, N.C. In January, the U.S. Census Bureau released its most recent data, which show the percentage of people living in poverty in those counties rose by as much as 1 percentage point from 2004 to 2005.

Officials in those counties warn that the situation is much worse than the numbers might make it appear.

Dianne Ramsey, executive director of the Horry County Community Kitchen, said the number of people served by her kitchen has nearly tripled since 2005

"Our numbers have gone from 90 to 130 [per month] during [2005] to last year between 150 to 170 month to now 225 to 270 this year," Ramsey said. "We're seeing an incredibly large number of people. We have lines around the building."

She estimates about 30 percent of the kitchen's clientele are homeless, while the rest are working poor.

The Census Bureau uses the definition of poverty from the Office of Management and Budget. It is updated annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.

In 2005, the national poverty threshold for a family of four was $19,971. A single person would have had to make less than $9,973 to be considered living in poverty.

In Georgetown County, 17 percent of residents fell under the poverty level in 2005, more than the two other counties in the coastal area.

Annette Perreault, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Georgetown County, said she has seen an increase in requests for help, but has also noticed more people getting in over their heads financially.

"We've also seen an increase in the debt load that our clients are accumulating from examining their applications," Perreault said. "We're doing our best to address that."

Perreault said Habitat offers a six-week course on financial responsibility that was created only for those who applied for housing. That course now is being offered to more people in need of help, including victims of predatory lending.

"This is an education process for them as well," she said.

The census data showed 14 percent of Brunswick County residents lived in poverty in 2005. Cannon said that number has grown since then, according to his calculations, to about 18 percent currently who live below the poverty level. He said about 22 percent of children in the county live below the poverty level.

Cannon said the family assistance program has seen the number of people it serves increase 211 percent from 2004 to 2007. He said from 2006 to 2007 alone, the volume increased by 71 percent.

It has prompted the family assistance program to institute creative programs for donations.

Sea Trail Golf Resort and Convention Center and Ocean Ridge Plantation golf courses have been collecting food for the food pantry, which is run by the family assistance program, since December and offering discounted golf to those who participate. Cannon said both programs have collected as much as 1,600 pounds of items per week.

In another program, churches and social organizations adopt a family for $3,500 per year.

Cannon said the high volume of requests for aid is making it hard for the program to help those in need to learn to help themselves.

"We don't have time to do that," he said. "Neither the family nor the agencies have the time to do the second piece of the equation, which is the crucial piece."

Horry County
Community Kitchen

1411 10th Ave. N.

Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Phone: 444-9383

Habitat for Humanity Georgetown County

1907 Hampton Court

Georgetown, SC 29442

Phone: 546-5685

Brunswick County Family Assistance Agency

P.O. Box 333

Supply, NC 28462

Phone: 910-754-4766