On the wall behind a file cabinet at the Emmaus Center for the homeless in Ellsworth is a handwritten sign:

“When there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers; they are citizens; not problems but priorities. And all of us are diminished when any are hopeless.”

This time of year, homeless shelters from Portland to Presque Isle themselves are struggling as their client base shifts from down-on-their-luck individuals to entire families.

“To come here, to admit we are homeless, is like hitting rock bottom. My husband and I both work, and we never, ever thought we would be in this position. But there just isn’t enough to pay all the bills,” said a weeping Virginia, who with her husband and two children sought refuge in a homeless shelter two weeks ago.

The high cost of heat was the tipping point for Virginia and her family. “When the oil truck delivered, and 100 gallons of oil cost more than I make in two weeks of work, well, it was just too much,” she said.

The Energy Information Administration predicts a 41 percent increase this season in the cost of natural gas and a 27 percent increase in oil heating costs.

Shelter operators say that Maine families are choosing among food, medicine, heat and rent.

“More people are showing up who are in need of help with their electric and their heating [bills],” said Sister Lucille MacDonald, director of Emmaus. “What is going to happen when we are not able to provide for those people, is they are going to end up here because you can’t live in a cold house.”

“There is not enough income for some families to pay it all,” said Susan Goss, director of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville.

Goss said many families like Virginia’s already have reached the end of their rope. Earlier this fall, she was turning away five to 10 families a day.

“I find the raw pain and despair in some of the clients’ faces unbearable,” Goss admitted. “To see a man at the door with two children and tears in his eyes, and to have to turn him away …”

Statewide there are 38 shelters, some providing overnight accommodations, others opening their doors for longer stays, still others offering services such as job hunting advice and funding to pay overdue utility bills or fuel assistance. Some serve only adults, while others focus on teens or families. All of the shelters are full, they report.

And these places aren’t the Ritz. The settings are utilitarian and sparse. In the bedrooms are a simple bunk bed and a metal clothes rack. In the central living room are a bookcase of books and videos, and worn furniture covered with throws and blankets.

The increase in clients, particularly families, is being blamed on escalating home heating costs combined with a rocky economy. When you factor in that Mainers turned their wallets inside out to help those affected by hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes, those who help the most in need among us are struggling to keep that help coming.

Sixty percent of the Emmaus budget is based on donations. In past years, the shelter raised more than $12,000 in its fall campaign. This year, it was only $7,000, a decline MacDonald attributed to eight other local fundraising programs simultaneously being held for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Now, Emmaus is seeking help with its own electric and fuel costs.

Meanwhile, Dennis Marble at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter is still waiting to see the results of his annual winter campaign. “It’s still too early to tell,” Marble said, since the appeal was mailed in late November. The Bangor shelter is supported 53 percent by private donations, and even if the money is less, Marble said the need is definitely greater.

“We’ve been full for years,” he said. “The general homeless demand is up statewide.”

At the Waterville shelter, Goss said her campaign also has just begun, and she won’t know at what level the giving will be until late January.

“I wish that donors could see how difficult it is for families to come here,” said Goss. “These people are not lazy. They are troubled, and they have run out of options, and they are afraid. Before a family comes, they have exhausted all their resources, they have moved in with their parents, they have done everything in their power to stay solvent.”

Most families, the shelter directors said, are just two paychecks away from homelessness.

MacDonald said that shelter life is difficult for the children. “They have to live with strangers, go to a strange school. It is hard on the adults, but it’s really hard on the children.”