Economy leads to greater needs

With more people than ever relying on charitable organizations to help them survive, Friends In Service Helping is facing near-empty shelves this month.

"We go through an average of $60,000 worth of food in a month, and in February, we helped 1,200 people," said Jim Peckham, director of FISH.

Compared to the $24,000 a month spent four years ago, with only 700 people requiring assistance, Peckham says the economy has definitely played a part in the food shortage crisis FISH is experiencing.

"One thing we're seeing is a lot of people who are on unemployment and getting to the end of it, they're losing their benefits and can't make ends meet anymore," Peckham said. "That's a significant part of our needs."

Compounding the problem, he said, is that donations are down.

"Our donors don't have the resources they used to have," he said.

Those who use the food bank usually get three or four days worth of food, he said.

"We're an emergency services organization, so people can get help for a few weeks, then we start directing them to JOIN for some training so they can start helping themselves," Peckham said.

"We also have the dining room where we serve one hot meal a day, and we're pretty lenient there as long as people aren't intoxicated or disruptive," he said.

Peckham said 80 percent of the people FISH serves are from Carson City; the remainder are from Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties.

"We get a lot of donated groceries from local stores, but we're always in need of food, clothing and household items," he said.

This is a tough time of the year because it is between food drives, which carry FISH over for many months.

"The postal drive in May gets us through the summer, and we have a fall food drive through the schools. We also have some smaller ones that usually help us through the winter and spring," Peckham said.

Donations of all kinds are welcome, he said, and can be dropped off at the food bank on East Long Street.