By Charles McClure
news@ltview.com
With unemployment hovering at their highest levels in 40 years, area-based social services are finding it increasingly difficult to keep pace with the needs.

Lake Travis Crisis Ministries (LTCM) President Dabney Cauley said that organization is in desperate need of cash donations.
“Last year we spent a little over $70,000 more than we took in,” Cauley said. “We just attribute that to the increasing need due to the current economic crisis. Fortunately, we had some reserves going into the year that made it possible for us to have the additional funds. However, we have now used those reserves and we will not be able to do that again.”
While LTCM assists with food donations, they also help struggling residents with electric bills and other basic necessities.
“Most folks probably believe that we are primarily a food pantry,” Cauley said. “That is a big part of our ministry. What many may not know is that we buy the food, for the most part, from the Capital Area Food Bank. We have money to purchase food, but it is the demands for basic necessities that are our biggest area of concern.
“The increased demand can clearly be traced back to the problems with our economy,” Cauley continued. “We are seeing a lot of people that are either losing their jobs completely, or are not being able to work as many hours as they have in the past. A lot of companies are cutting back.”
Cauley said one of the hardest hit segments of society are white collar workers. The total number of unemployed increased by more than 50 percent from January 2008 through last month, but the number of jobless Americans 55 or older jumped 70 percent, according to new Labor Department numbers released last week.
While the unemployment issue may be having an effect on the Lake Travis area, Cauley said residents should know that there has always been a segment of the local population that lives under the poverty level.
“Jesus said, ‘the poor have always been among us,’ and that is no different on Lake Travis,” Cauley said.
Many area families are also being hit hard by the housing meltdown. While the numbers in Texas are better than the rest of the nation, the state is not immune from the mortgage mess and there a host of local residents that are facing imminent foreclosure or have already lost their homes.
The story is the same for Helping Hands, a spin-off organization that serves the needs of Briarcliff and Spicewood-area residents. Robert Wood, a former president of LTCM, realized there was a need for a social safety net for the less fortunate who live along Texas 71.
“Both of us work within the geographical area of the Lake Travis Independent School District,” Cauley said. “The area is quite large and covers several hundred square miles. Robert realized that there was a need for those residents and the sheer miles they had to travel for help could seem overwhelming.”
Wood said Helping Hands is also feeling the pinch or the current economic crisis.
“We absolutely need help,” Wood said. “We need food and we need money. We also help folks pay their bills. We have a food pantry that is open every Tuesday evening and give out food to those in need.”
Helping Hands holds its weekly food ministry at the Pedernales Property Owners Association, located at 512 Pace Bend Road N.
Cauley said LTCM receives generous support from The Lakeway Church, Emmaus Catholic Church, the Lake Travis United Methodist Church, and the Marshall Ford Fellowship. Other churches also receive donations from other area congregations.
LTCM will also accept food donations, but notes that money is the primary shortfall at this time.
“We get food donations and there are a variety of drives that take place through the year, but we do so much volume that we have to buy most of it from the Capital Area Food Bank,” Cauley said. “We purchase from 1,500-2,000 pounds of food every week from them.”
Food can be donated at the LTCM headquarters in the Liberty Center Shopping Center, the second storefront on the right, 109 RR 620, Suite 112, on Wednesday afternoons from 5:30-7:30 p.m., or on Thursday mornings from 10 a.m.-noon. Money can be donated by mailing a check in care of Lake Travis Crisis Ministries and send them to 109 RR 620 South, Suite 112, Austin, Texas, 78734. For more information, call 512-266-9810, and leave a message.
To donate to Helping Hands, either drop off food at on Tuesdays at the PPOA between 4-6 p.m., or mail a check in care of Helping Hands, at 2506 Bee Creek Road, Spicewood, Texas, 78669. For more information, call 512-964-9822.