BOSTON -- In Lawrence Wednesday morning, Lazarus House volunteers loaded food into a van for distribution to the needy, already lined up at the agency's shelter a few blocks away. People like Mary Nunez, a single mom with five children.

Shelter Faces Critical Food Shortage

"We're trying to just make ends meet. People with houses, that own houses and everything, have no means to pay off their mortgage or anything. Even put food on the table. So, this is the only way we can get it," said Nunez.

All around Lazarus House, weed-filled lots and boarded up homes are signs of a dire economic situation. The shelter said twice as many families are signing up for its weekly food giveaway as a year ago. At the same time, food donations to the shelter have all but dried up.

"The family and the individual that brings a grocery bag of food once a week, once a month, we really survive off that. And that just isn't happening," said Ken Campbell, the shelter's food coordinator.

The demand is putting such a strain on the shelter's food supply, it has been forced to take goods reserved for Thanksgiving, and give them away now.

Newscenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that traditionally, every family's holiday food box would, of course, include a turkey, and by now, Lazarus House should have a couple of hundred turkeys to give away. This year, however, not a single turkey has been donated.

Without a helping hand, Lazarus House thinks as many as 2,000 needy families might go without Thanksgiving dinner this year. The agency said it must find a way to keep that from happening.

"It's hard for me to worry about a 401(k) or a retirement when I stand with a mother, a 3-year old, a 4-year old, a 5-year old, who can't eat today. We're trusting that somehow the loaves and fishes will multiply. So that people who have so little can continue to know that they don't stand alone," said Bridget Shaheen, executive director of Lazarus House.