With economy in slump, requests for aid increase

By D.A. Wilkinson

The county’s unemployment rate is above the state and national averages.

SALEM — Carole J. Dunfee says that requests for various kinds of emergency aid “are coming in at an alarming rate.”

Dunfee, the executive director of The Greater Pottery Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, knows a thing or two about disaster relief. The agency provides help in Columbiana and parts of Mahoning counties and Hancock County in West Virginia.

Dunfee said the agency’s offices in East Liverpool and Salem are getting four to six calls a day for emergency help.

One man, she recalled, said he needed money for gasoline and new boots to get to a new job in Belmont County. Another worker needed gas money to get to a job in Boardman.

But that’s not what the Red Cross does.

While many people are reducing spending while gasoline hovers near $4 a gallon, social service and faith-based organizations say they are being swamped with requests.

At the Salvation Army in Salem, Capt. John Brand said the organization is receiving about 100 requests a week.

“This is probably the busiest summer I’ve seen in a long time,” he said.

The requests come from people who “are needy and are desperate,” he added.

Funding has remained the same, so half the requests can be honored, he said.

At the Way Station in Columbiana, a Christian aid organization, officials noticed an increase in customers from the Salem area. Overall requests for help began to pick up in May 2007.

James Couchenour, the chairman of the Way Station’s board, said, “We keep seeing more and more needs.”

The Way Station, which also has offices in Lisbon and East Liverpool, helped 13,000 people last year.

In 2007, some 21 percent of the clients at the Columbiana site were from Salem.

Carol Bretz, the executive director for the Community Action Agency of Columbiana County, said statistics collected by the Ohio Department of Education showed increasing poverty in the county.

She said that from 2003 to 2007, the national unemployment rate averaged 4.6 percent; the state averaged 5.4 percent; and the county’s unemployment rate was 6.2 percent.

In 2003, some 37 percent of county school students, or some 6,834 of the 18,107 students, qualified for free or reduced lunches. In 2007, some 46 percent, or 7,569 of 16,416 students, qualified.

The government and nonprofit social service agencies work together to maximize their funds, Bretz said.

The Way Station offers a variety of programs, such as earning a diploma or learning a trade. It’s Wheels to Work program sells cars at half the lowest wholesale price so people can get to work.

County officials are trying to help economic development, such as adding water and sewer lines in Calcutta to aid commercial growth. The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce is completing a community plan that would include growth, and Kent State University will help people start a business.

Capt. Brand predicted, however, that it may take 18 months before the economy picks up.

wilkinson@vindy.com