news-record.com

GREENSBORO More Guilford County residents sought help with food purchases in the first three months of 2008 than in the first three months of any previous year.

Are we in a recession or just a slowdown? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

From January through March this year, those requests increased by 17 percent, compared with the same time period in 2007, according to the Guilford County Department of Social Services.

Greensboro Urban Ministry is getting more requests for help, too.

"What we are seeing is a lot of first-timers that have never asked for food before," said Mike Aiken, director of the Urban Ministry, "because of the breakdown in the economy."

Oil and gas are more expensive. Local home sales are cooling from the record years of 2005 and 2006. Even a six pack of beer costs more than just a few months ago.

As financial woes and higher prices proliferate, "recession" is on the tip of the tongue for many economists.

"We don't know for sure that we are in one, but that we probably are," said Andrew Brod, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNCG. "And when recessions hit people in lower incomes, families are hurt a little more. They're the ones that are likely to be hit first to be laid off."

Or someone might not lose a job but see reduced hours.

Letarsha Morgan, eligibility caseworker for Guilford's social services department, said she's seeing lots of people stung by higher gas prices and fewer work hours.

"And they are looking to supplement their income with food assistance," Morgan said.

Recipients of the county's food assistance are chosen on a scale that examines a person's income and family size with other factors.

People apply by mail, online or in person.

Although the county handles long-term solutions for food assistance, places such as the Urban Ministry act as a stopgap for emergency short-term food and housing needs.

Aiken said another figure shows community needs the wait list for their emergency housing units for people and families who are suddenly homeless.

"The waiting list used to be 8 to 10 families, and lately it's gone up as high as 30," Aiken said. "We've seen that in the last year-and-a-half to two years. And that seems to be the time the economy seems to be hurting."

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com