GREENSBORO, N.C. — This time of year is known as the time for giving.
Non-profits across Greensboro have been stepping up to the plate, continuing to serve hot meals, deliver packaged food, and provide other necessities to those in need.
Those needs have only increased due to high costs, inflation, and the aftermath of the pandemic. It has nonprofits asking for help.
The United Way of Greater Greensboro connects and leads community partnerships to equip people to leave poverty.
Senior Director, Carie Jones-Barrow said 22 percent of the people who live in Greensboro live at or below the federal poverty line.
"It is an upsetting statistic and we work year-round to help people meet their needs today, as well as get on a path to leaving poverty.," said Jones-Barrow. "We do this through strategic partnerships with 34 different agencies and at this time of year, it's really important to continue to think about United Way to think about the people in our community."
Jones-Barrow said affordable housing has only gotten worse since COVID, and basic needs like food and access to health care continue to rise. She said it comes after a lot of programs, which were funded during COVID, went away.
"As we face winter times, we face the additional pressures of what living in our community at this time of year brings," said Jones-Barrow. "We need additional financial support as always, we also need people to just realize what's going on in our community, to be aware, we need engagement year-round, not just at the holidays, so if you do want to get connected to an organization this time of year, that's great, and we hope you stay connected throughout the year."
While there are a lot of challenges, Jones-Barrow said United Way is making progress.
"We have a bold goal of 3000 households to leave poverty by 2030," she said. "We have been tracking this data for about a year and we're already over 350 households to that goal, so this is hard work, the progress is slow, but we are making a dent."
An increase in people needing help is what A Simple Gesture is seeing as well.
A Simple Gesture was created to support local food pantries. They do it in several ways, like making it easy for anybody in the community to help end hunger by leaving a green bag on the front porch.
On the second Saturday of the month, the group comes around and collects food donations and makes sure it goes to the right pantry and the people who need it.
They also collect food from grocery stores and businesses to make sure that any excess food doesn't go bad.
Leslie Loyd, A Simple Gesture President, said that demand has only increased.
"In March there was something called the hunger cliff, meaning that as all of the COVID programs ended that supported people who were hungry, all of those programs were kind of slashed," she said. "At the same time, all of the food prices started to go up, as well as living costs, like transportation and heating, so we've seen a major increase and people who are experiencing hunger."
Loyd said in the last 12 months, the demand is growing and new families show up to the pantries every day.
"What we see is, when people go to the pantry for the first time, they realize how much the community loves them and supports them and wants them to be fed and healthy," she said.
Loyd said the need for food and volunteers is great.
Both organizations said the help is needed now, but to not forget about nonprofits throughout the years, as the help never stops.
You can find ways to step in and help on A Simple Gestures website, here.
You can also find ways to help and volunteer at the United Way, here.
If anybody wants to see a pantry in action and see how partnerships are here in Guilford County, come to the open house at Backpack Beginnings, on Saturday from 10-1 pm.