Makija Judd, 3, of Providence, gets herself water and some for her sister during the lunch hour at Amos House last week.

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The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — A line of people stretched out the door of Amos House one day last week and onto the sidewalk on Friendship Street.

They were white, black, Hispanic. Young, old. Professionally dressed and disheveled. Together, they waited for a hot lunch from the state’s largest soup kitchen.

Jamee Judd, 23, of Providence, stood in line with her three children, ages 4, 3 and 1. The family was left homeless after a fire destroyed their Olneyville apartment five days earlier. Money from the Red Cross covered a motel for a few nights. But when that ran out, a family friend took them in. The Judd family is now relying on Amos House to feed them.

“I just want an apartment for me and my children,” said Judd, who is on welfare and is in job training. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”

As many as 900 people a day have sought help at Amos House this summer — compared with 600 people a day last year, said executive director Eileen Hayes. Hayes is worried her organization’s fundraising will not keep pace with the increased demand and escalating utility costs.“We have more and more people showing up for meals and needing emergency rental and utility assistance, but our own costs for food and utilities are up, and we only have the money we were able to raise,” Hayes said. “Amos House tries very hard to not turn anyone away, but we will be turning away people who need help.”

Charities across the state have sustained a double blow from the region’s economic downturn — donations are down or stagnant while the need for services has jumped.

The effect of Rhode Island’s recession on low-income residents has been exacerbated by the deep budget cuts to social-service programs that went into effect July 1 with the state’s new budget. The safety net catches far fewer of the needy now, and local soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food banks and community centers are already feeling the added strain.

Nationally, nonprofit groups large and small have been bracing themselves for a tough year. Americans donated $306.4 billion to charities last year — 88 percent from individuals and family foundations, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. It was just a 1-percent increase over the previous year. This year is expected to be worse.

“Fundraising is facing more challenges this year,” said a Chronicle article last week, “especially as the housing and financial-services industries continue to crumble, fuel and food costs rise and the stock market’s volatility strains individuals and organizations across the country. Charities report that donors of all types have recently delayed or reduced gifts — or stopped giving altogether.”

The Chronicle reported that some savvy nonprofits have offset a decline in donations by starting businesses or tapping into new potential donors. Larger nonprofits with strong media campaigns and deep donor pools usually ride out recessions in relatively good shape, but smaller ones are more vulnerable, said Rick Schwartz, former spokesman for the Rhode Island Foundation and now editor of the New England Philanthropy Digest.

With soaring living expenses, everyone is feeling the pinch, say local charitable organizations — from the relatively well-off who support philanthropies to the less fortunate who rely on them for food, shelter, childcare or help with utility bills. Schwartz expects the demands on nonprofits to increase.

“It will hit hard this fall, with fuel costs hitting everyone,” he said. “No question, the need will grow.”

THE UNITED WAY of Rhode Island raised just under $16 million during this year’s annual fund drive, about $1 million less than last year, said Carissa Hill, a United Way vice president who managed the campaign.

In addition to running its own community programs, the United Way gathers and distributes donations and grants to more than 50 local social-service agencies and charities, including the American Red Cross, Crossroads Rhode Island, Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island and the Salvation Army.

“We anticipate the decrease in donations to continue in the next year,” Hill said. “People just have less discretionary money to spend, or think they may have less in the future, so they are hanging on to it.”

The Women’s Center of Rhode Island, a much smaller nonprofit organization, has also experienced a drop in financing. The center, which runs a temporary shelter for about 350 battered women and their children and serves another 1,000 women each year in court-related domestic violence cases, recently hired a new development coordinator to help it raise money, said executive director Kris Lyons.

The center relies heavily on federal and state money, which makes up about 71 percent of its $700,000-a-year budget, and on private donations, which make up another 12 percent, Lyons said.

“We lost $43,000 in state funding for the coming year, and our [donors’] payroll deductions from the United Way are down 56 percent,” Lyons said. A Mother’s Day appeal brought in just $1,800 this year, compared with $5,000 two years ago. Overall donations are down 24 percent compared with this time last year.

As a result, the court advocacy program has been scaled back from five days a week to three and several staff positions will remain unfilled, Lyons said.

“We’re just concerned because our expenses to heat and cool the shelter and or other utility expenses are going up, just like everyone else,” she said. “We will probably run a deficit this year, and will dip into our reserve account.”

Lyons said her organization is also looking for volunteers to staff a 24-hour-hotline and to help with childcare.

WHILE SOME organizations have not seen a substantial dip in donations, they still may not cover the increase in needed services.

Amos House started seeing a steady increase in need this spring. “We used to see mostly homeless people,” said Hayes, Amos House’s executive director. “Now we’re seeing a lot more families who just aren’t able to make ends meet.”

Hayes expects the demand to increase because of the state budget cuts to programs such as welfare, health care and childcare and the state’s high unemployment rate.

“With all the cuts, people are relying more and more on nonprofits,” said Hayes, whose organization gets much of its $3-million budget from private and corporate donations. “We’re just hoping to keep pace and meet the ever-growing need.”

The Rhode Island Food Bank’s annual food drive is going well, but the statewide organization has seen a 10-percent increase in the demand for its food pantry during the first five months of this year, said executive director Andrew Schiff. In May alone, about 37,000 people received food from the organization’s food pantry and the soup kitchens the food bank supplies throughout the state — compared with 33,5000 last May.

“We are seeing evidence of the impact of the economy on the people we serve because demand is definitely up,” Schiff said. “So far, donations from individuals have not decreased, but what we have seen, and this is a national trend, is a decrease in food donations from the food industry.”

Welcome House of South County, which runs a soup kitchen, a 17-bed emergency shelter and transitional housing for 10 families, is also worried about how it will cover electricity and fuel costs this winter, said executive director Linda Barden. More than half of the organization’s $305,000 annual budget comes from donors, but with a staff of three, Welcome House can spare little time to boost fundraising.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, which provides meals, childcare and education programs to residents of Newport County, has seen an increase in visitors to the food pantry and breakfast program. Last month, 87 people used the food pantry, up from 70 last June, and about 75 people took the free breakfast, up from about 60 a year ago, said Amanda Frye Leinhos, executive director.

The center has seen a drop in monetary donations that help finance education programs. It was able to give out just 10 scholarships to its summer camp program for about 50 elementary school students, Leinhos said.

Despite financing problems, Leinhos said there are also signs of generosity and a recognition that others are worse off.

“Our recent food drive was very successful,” she said. “Even in these tough times, people are finding other ways to give.”

jjordan@projo.com