MUSKEGON, Mich. -- The Muskegon Rescue Mission says they're helping more people than ever this summer, but donations are not keeping up with the demand.
Summer is usually the mission's slow season, but their numbers are almost double what they expected.
"This is the time of year where normally we don't see as big of a demand, and our donations go way down," said the Muskegon Mission's Executive Director Dan Skoglund. "People think about homelessness when it's cold and snowy outside."
Right now, the mission is housing more people this June than they did in January. Skoglund says the reason more people need help is the growing economy.
"As costs go up, their pay hasn't gone up so it puts them more on the edge and they just can't make ends meet anymore, so they come to us," he said.
The mission is serving 3,000 people a week right now when normally this time of the year they would serve about 1,200. Current donations aren't enough to cover the costs.
"We just want to remind them: we're still here," said Skoglund. "We're still caring, we're still feeding, we're still shelving, we're still doing case management, we're still taking care of the kids. And we need the community to come around and help us with this."
The Muskegon Mission says they're always thankful for the community support, especially in times like this when they're asking for help. For more information on the Mission, click here.
