‘ ‘ ‘ Panic. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s the first word that comes to mind, said Caroline Woodward, director… ‘ ‘ ‘ Panic. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s the first word that comes to mind, said Caroline Woodward, director of development and public relations for Bethlehem Haven, a Fifth Avenue shelter that primarily serves homeless and low-income women. ‘ ‘ ‘ Bethlehem Haven, like other shelters and soup kitchens in the area, is in a double bind. The economy’s suffered so much that it’s worried it’ll see a decrease in donations. At the same time, more people are using its services. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s hard to tell what will come next, said Woodward. Bethlehem Haven will be fine for at least a few months, she said. The group collected its last round of donations in September and temporarily evaded the economic crisis that hit early this fall. It’ll discover its effects in the spring, when they attempt to collect again. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We’re worried,’ she said. ‘[But] we will never close our shelter. We had a woman die on the streets last year because she froze to death. In a country like ours, there’s no way people should be dying on the streets.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Woodward said Bethlehem Haven will rely mostly on the generosity of individual donors. Corporations, she said, tend to donate less money during a crisis because it’s harder for them to acquire tax credits. But individual donors are relentless. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘My experience … is it’s the individual giver who continues to give and may even ratchet up, because they’re giving out of their hearts,’ said Woodward. ‘It’s their own goodwill.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ She added that the shelter is particularly pressed now because more people are looking for its help. Bethlehem Haven used to serve primarily middle-age women who were chronically homeless, she said. ‘ ‘ ‘ But that’s changed in the past few months. Now, Woodward said, the majority of Bethlehem Haven’s visitors are 20-something-year-old women who were born in the crack explosion of the 1980s or senior citizens with mental disabilities whose caretakers recently died. These groups, Woodward said, are the most vulnerable to fluctuations in the economy because they struggle to make ends meet even in relatively easy times. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s very sad,’ said Woodward. ‘For the first time in their lives, they’re homeless at 60. The 20-year-olds were … born into an addicted household. They’re struggling in their 20s to get their footing.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ But what shocks her the most, she said, is a new group of women visiting the shelter. Woodward didn’t have statistics but said that she knows just by looking at Bethlehem Haven that she’s seen an increase in the number of people attending the organization’s day program so they can get a free meal. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It grows fastest toward the end of the month, when paychecks aren’t lasting,’ Woodward said. ‘These are women who are working and who may not have enough money to feed themselves. It’s a pretty good litmus test of the economy.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Less than a mile down the street, workers at the Jubilee Soup Kitchen noticed the same trend. Sister Liguori Rossner, the group’s executive director, said the organization now serves an average of 150 people a day, about 25 more than they did one or two months ago. And many of those people, Rossner said, are looking for more than just food. They need rental assistance, health care and money to pay their utility bills. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s people who have apartments or have homes,’ said Rossner. ‘I’m very disturbed by them. We can’t help them as much as we’d like to help them. You’d just have to have a tremendous amount of money.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Rossner said she doesn’t plan to see a lot of money come in any time soon. She believes that donations, which supply Jubilee Soup Kitchen with 69 percent of its funds, will decrease as more people lose their jobs. The effects, Rossner said, will be unprecedented. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I don’t think anybody has ever seen this before,’ she said. ‘I believe after [Obama takes office] that they will tell us how bad it is. I think we’re going into a global recession.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Rossner said she heard a speaker give a lecture saying that president-elect Barack Obama will face greater economic challenges than former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt experienced during the Great Depression. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Now, I wasn’t around then,’ Rossner said, ‘but you hear stories.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ James Beasley, the activities director at Wood Street Commons shelter, said he’s also anxious to see how a new administration will handle the crisis. Beasley said Wood Street Commons has seen an influx of people within the last two months, though he didn’t have specific statistics. ‘ ‘ ‘ But, Beasley said, the economic crisis has only inflamed the increase in numbers. It didn’t cause it. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Funds that might have been available to us before just aren’t there,’ Beasley said. ‘But I think that’s been the trend for the last eight years.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Beasley said he’s not overly concerned about the welfare of Wood Street Commons. It’s been around since 1986 and thus has successfully weathered several economic slowdowns. Beasley said that its longevity ‘speaks well to our agency,’ which keeps going because its workers are dedicated to serving others just like themselves. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘My opinion of things,’ said Beasley, ‘[is that] people are not impoverished because they’re worthless. People are not homeless because they’re bad people. Ninety percent of the people I run into have stories of tragedy and hardship that … the everyday American couldn’t even fathom to go through.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Ginny Knor sits in her office in the Salvation Army’s Western Pennsylvania Division headquarters on Third Avenue. Knor, the group’s director of marketing and public relations, stares every day at a note from a young girl. The girl and her father were preparing to move out of the one of the Salvation Army’s shelters when Knor, at the suggestion of a Salvation Army officer, decided to take the girl shopping. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘She had a man’s ski jacket on, old tennis shoes, just terrible clothing,’ said Knor. ‘ ‘ ‘ Knor said the girl was in a fitting room trying on a dress when she said, ‘I’ve never done this before.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ You’ve never been to this store? ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘No,’ the girl replied. ‘I’ve never been shopping for new clothes.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Knor said moments like that one motivate her and her co-workers to stay strong during tough times. ‘ ‘ ‘ She said it’s hard to tell exactly how the Salvation Army will be affected by the economic crisis. The Western Pennsylvania Division, she said, is split into about 115 service units, so that if a person in ‘County A’ makes a donation, his money will go directly toward helping people in ‘County A,’ instead of into a general pool. Therefore, one unit could prosper while another flounders. ‘ ‘ ‘ But Knor said the Salvation Army will do everything it can to make sure it offers stability in this time of economic uncertainty. Knor said she doubted that the organization would cut any of its services. Instead it would require people to provide them with multiple forms of identification, so that they can’t collect money from several service units. The group will strive to be more fiscally conservative. And, if worse comes to worse, it will call upon the public. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Once we put the appeal out,’ said Knor, ‘someone comes forward. Some people do it because they’ve been taught to do it and it just becomes a behavior. Some people do it because of their religion. A lot of people say it just feels good.’