With the high cost of heating oil pinching many a Mainer’s wallet, more people are turning to community agencies and nonprofit groups for help with putting food on their tables.

Mark Rae, assistant director of Manna Inc., said Tuesday that the soup kitchen and pantry his agency operates has seen about a 25 percent increase over last year in the number of people seeking nonperishable food items to help feed themselves and-or their families. Much of that increase, Rae said, is due to an influx of people who are struggling to pay both their heating and grocery bills from week to week.

“Basically, people are making a choice between food and heating,” Rae said. “Heating help is hard to come by. The demand is so high that the supply isn’t available.”

Though winter is nearing an end, Rae said many people with limited earnings have depleted their savings as they struggle to pay their bills. As a result, he said, money is very tight for those still trying to heat their homes and fill their cupboards.

Rae said those seeking assistance cover “the whole range” between young families and the elderly. “Everybody’s struggling with it,” he said. According to figures from the U.S. Energy Department, the average homeowner using natural gas or oil as a heating source can expect to pay about $1,000 this winter.

The Maine State Planning Office released figures Monday that showed a one-cent decrease in the average statewide price of home heating oil. According to the agency, the average Mainer is paying about $1.40 per gallon of heating oil – a nine-cent increase from one year ago.

The increased cost of heating oil has forced many Mainers to turn to agencies that distribute Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds to help keep their homes warm. By mid-January, community action programs across the state had seen a marked increase in the number of applicants for LIHEAP funding from the year before. With more people taking part in the program, there is a smaller average benefit available to people – preventing many from purchasing as much heating oil as they had in prior years under the program.

Rae said the belt-tightening needed to make up for the difference has forced some people to turn to Manna for food. As more and more people on tight budgets turn to the food cupboards, Rae said Manna’s supplies continue to dwindle.

“This is the time of year that food donations and cash donations drop down,” Rae said. “Right now, we’re living on what we have left from the Mike and Mike food drive. We’re running low.” Rae said Manna could hold a food drive at some point in the next few weeks to help meet the demand.

Dave Mitchell, who helps to supply both perishable and nonperishable food to 17 pantries across Aroostook County for the Catholic Charities of Maine, said Tuesday that he has seen about a 5- to 10-percent increase in the amount of people needing food. So far this winter, Mitchell said, food pantries in Aroostook County have supplied food to about 2,200 people, or about 800 families, per month.

While Mitchell said he doesn’t have evidence of why there is increase in need this year, he added that fuel costs likely are forcing people to become more dependent on food banks. “A lot of the [food banks] say they are picking up new people all of the time,” Mitchell said. “And it always goes up in the winter as compared to the summer.”

Mitchell said his agency helps cover the cost of food along with other agencies, such as the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Lewiston. In addition, he also acquires potatoes, vegetables and frozen foods through a network of contacts including local farmers, warehouses and grocery stores.

Both Mitchell and Rae said they expect to be able to help meet the demand for food, but only with the help of continued donations to their programs. Those wishing to donate food and-or money to Manna may call 990-2870. Those wishing to donate to Mitchell’s food distribution center in Caribou may call the Catholic Charities of Maine at 498-2575. The statewide number for Catholic Charities is 781-8550.