EAST AURORA, NY (WKBW) — Few places are immune from the effects of inflation; director of Rural Outreach Center Frank Cerny said rural communities are feeling the burden.
"What inflation has done is it's put an additional burden for food and some of the more necessities for life,” Cerny said.
The Rural Outreach Center has a service called New Paths; it’s a store with donated appliances and furniture that normally cost $20 to $40.
You can call the store at 716-777-4007 to donate or to set up an appointment to buy something. The store is open on Saturdays.
Cerny said, for many, increased prices means deciding between necessities like food and rent payments.
"We have a lot of people coming to us with those really acute, almost ‘no choice’ kind of decisions," Cerny said.
Cerny said the center typically gets five to ten people who need their services every two or three weeks; 30 to 50 have shown up in the last two weeks.
"That’s in week or two,” Cerny said. “So, you do that week after week after week, that's a huge burden."
Cerny said there are between 45,000 and 50,000 people who live in poverty in the zip codes they serve.
He said getting help comes down to availability of resources, which he said are scarce in rural areas.
"You name it, it’s not there,” Cerny said. “Even if they were, they're not accessible because of the transportation issue."
