LEWISTON – The declining economy has pinched nonprofit organizations from both sides, reducing donations and increasing the number of people seeking help.

Demand for food and shelter always goes up when cold weather hits, but this year community groups say they are seeing a greater need.

“People are giving less,” said Dell Gray, event planner at Trinity Jubilee Center on Bates Street. “Last year, we gave out 30 food baskets for Thanksgiving, (this year) I gave out 12.”

Gray said last year, people would slip her money to help buy food for others at Thanksgiving, but so far this season, that has not been the case.

Despite receiving more than 60 requests for baskets, Gray said they just have to make the best of what they get.

“We cobble together whatever we can,” she said. “We had enough for 12 food baskets this year, which is good because three weeks ago I didn’t even think we’d have that.”

At Hope Haven Gospel Mission on Lincoln Street, which provides food and shelter to the needy, Director Paul McLaughlin said donations to his group were also down.

“We’re looking at around a $20,000 shortfall right now and that could double before the end of the year,” he said. “I know that our donations are down with the economy.”

Norm Demers, Hope Haven’s business administrator, said the charity has cut back on spending and priorited its services.

Food donations have remained steady, he said.

“If it wasn’t for food donations, we’d be in bad shape,” he said. Demers said Hope Haven receives food from Bates College, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Central Maine Community College’s culinary arts program.

At the Good Shepherd Food-Bank in Auburn, Maine’s largest distributor of donated food, the sharp increase in demand so early in the giving season has surprised officials.

“We knew that by December and January, this was really going to start hitting,” said Bob Dodd, a spokesman for the food bank, referring to the economic downturn. “The problem is that the demand from the agencies that we serve is really going up now. They really need more food.”

Food pantries and soup kitchens are seeing between 20 percent and 50 percent increases in the number of people coming through their doors, Dodd said.

Good Shepherd processes food donations from large chains such as Hannaford’s, Shaw’s and Wal-Mart, as well as local food businesses like Lepage Bakeries, and distributes the food to pantries and shelters statewide.

Dodd said he had never seen demand so high.

“Last year, because of the harsh winter, we saw maybe a 10 percent increase in need, more than we were expecting,” he said. “We’re trying on many different fronts to increase both the number of food donations and the amount of discounted food that we can get our hands on.”

The rise in food costs this past summer also has affected the food bank.

“Because the price of food is going up, the food distributors are much more efficient at handling it and so there’s less salvage food,” Dodd said. “It’s amazing, the effects of the economy on the food prices, and how far-reaching it is.”

Although people may have less money to donate, Dodd said they are still generous with their time.

“People are really responding to that need,” Dodd said. “Because of the increase in volunteers, we’re able to get the food in, processed, sorted and turned around to the agencies very quickly.”

People interested in donating to the Good Shepherd Food-Bank can participate in its Virtual Food Drive by visiting www.gsfb.org. Those looking to donate to Hope Haven Gospel Mission or the Trinity Jubilee Center may visit their Web sites: http://www.hopehavengospelmission.org and http://www.trinitylew.org/ministries.html.