Have the rising fuel prices taken a bite out of your budget? Is it getting harder to stretch your paycheck?

If you said yes, you're not alone.

Officials say more folks in our region are seeking help to cover their basic expenses.

Places like Community Action and the Salvation Army provide help to low income people.

But it looks as though this year will be particularly busy for workers at the two agencies, and that's certainly not a good thing...

(Willie Soderholm - Director, Community Action) "The phone calls are coming in earlier than typical, so we can pretty much expect that now that the weather's turning a bit colder, things like that you know phone calls are going to get a bit higher."


Soderholm says in many cases, people don't meet the income guidelines to qualify for assistance, but he urges people to make the call anyway to see if they can get some help. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list