ATLANTA — Brianna Watson joined dozens of people at the Georgia International Convention Center Saturday to volunteer with Hosea Helps.
The organization hosted a holiday celebration where families could rive up to receive groceries and toys for children.
"It's hard living in America, right now... I do not like my families have to go out, and kind of pick and choose where they can get resources from," Watson said.
The event was the latest in a series Hosea Helps has been hosting over the last few weeks to address the growing need for food and other resources in the metro Atlanta area.
"We see people who never have been in a food line before the toy line. We have seen an increase by 45%", Elisabeth Omilami said.
Omilami is the CEO of Hosea Helps and the daughter of the organization's namesake. She says in addition to a growing number of families asking for food assistance, many have also asked for help with employment resources and housing.
"We need a decent, livable wage, we need more entry-level jobs for our community," she said.
Hosea Helps is not the only organization that's seen an increase in the need for housing. Ike Reighard, the CEO of Must Ministries told 11Alive his organization is pouring more money into rental assistance.
"To put it in a dollar perspective, in 2019, we averaged about $5,000 a month right now in rental assistance," he explained. "Right now, we're doing about $100,000 a month."
Reighard explained donations have also not come in as much as they used to, a sign that everyone is feeling the impact of inflation. He said he's working with his team to make sure families have help, especially during the cold months.
"When they begin to slow down obviously we have to begin to cut back on how many people we're being able to help," he said.
In the meantime, he said he's praying for more help comes so Must Ministries can continue to lend a hand.