But 6.7 per cent is the average. Many states’ unemployment rates are considerably higher. In Michigan, beset by auto-industry woes, it was up to 9.3 per cent in October. Joining it was Rhode Island, whose unemployment rate shot up from 5.1 per cent in October 2007 to 9.3 per cent in October 2008. California, the nation’s most populous state, recorded 8.2-per-cent unemployment this October.

Janice Luongo, director of Mary House in Providence, R.I., said many patrons at its soup kitchen and meal centre are filled with despair and anxiety caused by unemployment and an inability to pay food, rent and utility bills. Some, who are employed full time in low-paying jobs, are frustrated because they cannot put gasoline in their cars or afford to live in better accommodations.

“You can tell that they are sliding downhill,” Luongo observed.

But now, 25 patrons will get an opportunity to gain valuable life- and job-training skills through a new initiative called the Thrive Mentoring Program. It will match volunteer mentors’ skills with the needs of people who need to learn how to complete job applications, open and balance a chequing account, acquire social services, shop at the supermarket and become strong self-advocates.

As bad as things are in the Detroit area, the crisis could even worsen.

“I, as well as everyone else, am concerned about the tremendous loss of jobs that would come from a Chrysler-GM merger. The whole church of Detroit would be hurt,” said Fr. Duane Novelly, pastor of St. Matthew parish in Detroit.

Collections are down about 10 per cent from a year ago at Our Lady of Refuge parish in suburban Orchard Lake, Mich., according to Fr. Gerald McEnhill. Although situated in an upscale suburb, job losses and home foreclosures have hit people in the parish.

“We are seeing requests for assistance significantly up through our St. Vincent de Paul conference, and we try to help,” McEnhill said.

With unemployment at 10 per cent-12 per cent in several counties in the diocese of Sacramento, Calif., and the cost of groceries up 7.2 per cent over last year, working families are scrambling for financial stability.

Rocio Rocha, case manager at Centro Guadalupe in Sacramento, a program of Catholic Charities, reports “more clients, more phone calls, more people calling with really, really high utility bills and disconnect notices.”

“People are losing their jobs,” Rocha said. “I have encountered people with five, seven, 10 years at a company laid off because there is a lack of business, or the company is going out of business, or their work hours have been drastically reduced.

“In the past we saw people on welfare or already in some sort of assistance program,” she noted. “Now we are seeing more working, middle-class families. People call and say, ‘I’ve never asked for help before, but I have children and I need help.’ ”

At Northern Valley Catholic Social Service in Redding, Calif., executive director Don Chapman notes that charities across the six counties it serves have been “substantially impacted by increased need.”

“We’re getting more calls from people who need help,” Chapman added.

Don Johnston, a retiree and member of Precious Blood parish on Pawleys Island, S.C., has had a ministry of helping unemployed parishioners find work. Now, though, rising joblessness prompted parish leaders to ask him to conduct a series of networking seminars.

“Those that are well-networked have a greater opportunity to secure employment and change careers than those who aren’t,” said Johnston, whose own career had been in job staffing.

In Anchorage, Alaska, one woman received a rare treat as she was escorted around St. Francis House’s food pantry. There, in a nearly empty refrigerator, was a large roll of ground meat. She held it close to her chest, then put it in her basket and wiped away a tear. “I knew God was still with me,” she said as she collected her bags of rice and beans.