There are no government bail outs for the Salvation Army. So a few people needing a hand are being turned away. Joe Cadotte reports.

With a decrease in donations and an increase in people needing help, the Salvation Army in Superior is turning away 15 to 20 people a week in need of fuel or rent assistance.

“I got a call yesterday from somebody who’s going to loose their house because they’re going to foreclose on them. It’s happening every single day, right in our back yard here. Superior is a deprived area; there are a lot of people out of work.”

That’s Superior Salvation Army Major Rosemary Matson. She blames the economy for them being short $18,000 this month. Matson says she’s asking for volunteers to help out at the thrift store to get money.

“We’re going to start focusing on our thrift store and getting that up to making a little bit to help the food shelf and the other things that we do at the Salvation Army.”

The good news is that even with 50 to 100 families at the food shelf every day, Superior Salvation Army Outreach Director Dawn Hastings says they haven’t had to turn anyone away.

“Right now we’ve got some of the local Boy Scouts have been slowly trickling in with some food donations. We have a food recovery truck that comes four days a week. It’s mostly produce. We usually have something that we can give, bread, produce. It might not be the full food shelf bag with the can goods and cereal but at least they’re getting something to help them get by.”

Next month, Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College is putting on a food drive. And May 9th the Post Office is holding its annual food drive.

You can call 394-7001 to help.