CLEVELAND — With the holiday season in full swing and winter fast approaching, many people are looking for resources to help them make ends meet.

"The main needs are — really, there's really four that we see that have been coming up again. The first one being housing and shelter — seems to be the No.1 driver of calls for the most part. And then, the next two are food and utilities, and they tend to fluctuate between second and third, depending on what time of the year," said Franco Formichelli, the 211 Helplink Director for the United Way of Greater Cleveland.

With the moratorium on shutoffs of utilities and water ending Dec. 1 for many cities, including Cleveland, and the nationwide ban on evictions ending Dec. 31, people are worried about whether they will have heat or even a place to stay. They are seeking assistance now more than ever, according to the United Way of Greater Cleveland. The agency is getting around 800 calls a day with people needing help with their rent, utilities, food, and income expenses.

"We know that there are a number of individuals that are worried about where they're going to find the funds to be able to keep their utilities on. We also saw a surge when the county announced that they were making $2 million available for utility assistance. So again, this just confirms that we have a lot of people in this community that are worried about keeping their utilities on and still maintaining rent and food in their homes," said Nancy Mendez, the vice president of Community Impact of the United Way of Greater Cleveland.

Formichelli and his team of navigators, the people who navigate callers through their options, answer the calls to the 211 helpline and connect people to the resources they need. They collect personal information such as your age and income so they can match you with the resources you qualify for.

"And on that call, you know, someone could call looking for food, and we could easily just say, 'OK, here's the food bank,' but we don't do that. We actually talk to them. We do an assessment, a full assessment, of what their needs are. Because, OK, they may need food, but what's driving that need? And our team does a good job of well maybe they need help looking for a job. Maybe we can save them money on prescription drugs so they can use those money to get food or pay for their rent. So, our team, they're very well trained," said Formichelli.

But their support doesn't stop there. Formichelli said people can call no matter what they need help with.

"If you have a need, just call us. If we don't have something, we can find something for you."

Formichelli said although the work is tough, he enjoys helping people get the help they need.

"It feels great. And again, being a Clevelander growing up in Northeast Ohio, it feels good that we can help out."

The United Way said since the pandemic started in March, more people are seeking help for the first time with even people who have been donors in the past seeking help.

"For example, working-age adults, many of them are in fact working, but they're living paycheck to paycheck. So then COVID-19 hits, and they're furloughed or their hours are reduced, and all of a sudden when they were just there making their payments, paying utilities, paying rent, paying no extras all of the sudden now they're finding themselves in the position to where they really are choosing between food and utilities or the rent, and that is really exasperated. And on top of that, we have individuals who have never faced that before and all of the sudden find themselves on a food line," said Mendez.

The United Way 211 line is free and confidential to callers.