A colder winter than usual and reduction in government assistance led to an influx of people seeking help this week from Churches United in Christ Help Ministries.

Churches United in Christ Help Ministries is a network of five downtown churches – State Street United Methodist Church, Christ Episcopal Church, First Baptist Church, The Presbyterian Church and First Christian Church Disciples of Christ – that pool their money, divide it evenly and distribute it to people who need help paying utility bills or other expenses.

Each church accepts applications for assistance one day a month. The two churches that took applications this week received more requests than usual.

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on Tuesday and State Street United Methodist Church on Wednesday saw about 30 people looking for help, about 10 more than usual, said Keith Skiles, a member of State Street United Methodist who volunteers with the ministry. 

“We’re facing some really tough times,” he said. “All of the ministries are going to be really pressed.”

In addition to recent frigid temperatures, Skiles thinks the rush of people asking for assistance is also due to many people recently losing unemployment benefits or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

“You don’t have to go very far around here to see people hurting,” he said. 

Because of donations made to the ministry during the Christmas season, churches had more money than usual to distribute this month – about $2,000, compared to the typical $1,500 a month. Due to the extra funds, State Street United Methodist Church was able to help everyone who applied for assistance Wednesday.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Skiles said. “I love to help people, but good Lord, I wish we could help more than we do.”

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, received help Wednesday at State Street United Methodist. She said she was relieved to get assistance. Her electric bill was a lot higher than she was expecting, and she’s grateful a program like the ministry was there to help.

“I’m glad that there are resources available to help people out in hard times,” she said.

Other organizations have also received a lot of calls recently from people asking for utility and rent assistance, including HOTEL INC.

“We’ve definitely seen a lot colder November and December than we’ve had in a long time,” said Rhondell Miller, executive director of HOTEL INC. “The struggle with that becomes trying to prevent homelessness.”

However, beginning this month, HOTEL INC no longer provides assistance with monthly utility bills, because there are several other organizations who help with that. Instead, HOTEL INC now focuses on helping people with the initial deposit for utility service. 

State Street Baptist Church also has had many calls in the last couple of weeks from people whose utilities were about to be cut off, the Rev. Freddie Brown said.

“I know we did go out of the way last week to make sure they didn’t get cut off,” he said. 

— For information on applying for aid, call the Churches United in Christ Help Ministries help line at 270-842-4307. To make a donation to the ministry, send a check made out to “Churches United in Christ Help Ministries” to any of the five churches.

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Laurel Wilson on Twitter at twitter.com/FaithinBG or visit bgdailynews.com.