Bloomington Aid Organization Sees Poverty Growing
By: Sophie Nielsen-Kolding WMBD/WYZZ TV
Updated: September 21, 2012
BLOOMINGTON- Home Sweet Home Ministries has 91 beds, and this week, had 111 people staying under it's roof.
"We're actually putting mattresses on the floor to accommodate everybody. And it's been like this all year," said Spokeswoman Sabrina Burkiewicz.
Burkiewicz said they've seen record numbers of people lining up for shelter, job help and food. Lunch time means a free meal, and you don't have to be staying at Home Sweet Home to eat.
That makes it the busiest times of the day for staff and volunteers. The organization had to hire more people to cope, but it wasn't enough.
"There's so much talk about the great recession ending, but from our standpoint it's never really ended because the people we serve, they haven't recovered," Burkiewicz said.
The kitchen serves around 12,000 plates of food every month. Just seven years ago, that number was 5,000 per month.
"It feels out of control, it all feels out of control to our staff right now. We're having so many conversations, how to keep up, how do we keep up because its just growing," she said.
Census numbers show that poverty is a growing problem across the state. In 2011 and estimated 1.9 million people were living under the federal poverty rate. That's 150,000 more than the year before.
Right around the corner, the holiday season is the busiest time of year for Home Sweet Home.
"Our meal counts always escalating, escalating toward the end of the year. So who knows what we're in for the next couple of months. We need people to pay for us, donate food and come volunteer," Burkiewicz said.
She doesn't expect to see that lunch line getting any shorter any time soon.
Visit Home Sweet Home's website to see how you can help.
"We're actually putting mattresses on the floor to accommodate everybody. And it's been like this all year," said Spokeswoman Sabrina Burkiewicz.
Burkiewicz said they've seen record numbers of people lining up for shelter, job help and food. Lunch time means a free meal, and you don't have to be staying at Home Sweet Home to eat.
That makes it the busiest times of the day for staff and volunteers. The organization had to hire more people to cope, but it wasn't enough.
"There's so much talk about the great recession ending, but from our standpoint it's never really ended because the people we serve, they haven't recovered," Burkiewicz said.
The kitchen serves around 12,000 plates of food every month. Just seven years ago, that number was 5,000 per month.
"It feels out of control, it all feels out of control to our staff right now. We're having so many conversations, how to keep up, how do we keep up because its just growing," she said.
Census numbers show that poverty is a growing problem across the state. In 2011 and estimated 1.9 million people were living under the federal poverty rate. That's 150,000 more than the year before.
Right around the corner, the holiday season is the busiest time of year for Home Sweet Home.
"Our meal counts always escalating, escalating toward the end of the year. So who knows what we're in for the next couple of months. We need people to pay for us, donate food and come volunteer," Burkiewicz said.
She doesn't expect to see that lunch line getting any shorter any time soon.
Visit Home Sweet Home's website to see how you can help.
