Every month since 1992, Kathy and Bud Enger have donated a box of Spam and Vienna sausage to the Community Clearinghouse, where Oahu's needy can get free food, clothing and other supplies.

“;Like everybody else, we live paycheck to paycheck,”; Kathy Enger said. “;I've never had to send my children to bed hungry. I don't think anybody else should.”;

The number of hands stretching out for help has multiplied in recent years at the Clearinghouse, an outreach program of Helping Hands Hawaii on Nimitz Highway.

The Star-Bulletin today begins its annual Good Neighbor Fund monetary drive to help the Clearinghouse bear some of the load.

With the current economic tailspin, the number of needy people this year has already surpassed 2007 totals, says Scott Morishige, Clearinghouse program manager. In 2007, Helping Hands assisted 1,998 households, while so far this year they have already helped 2,141 households, he said.

The Engers started helping the Clearinghouse a year after they moved to Hawaii in 1991. They donated a refrigerator, and from then on offered to deliver donations from others every month because they own a truck. Every Christmas they buy gifts for a family which has fallen on hard times through the Clearinghouse's Adopt-A-Family program.

They've tried to help out “;everywhere we've lived. We do construction and travel around a lot,”; Kathy Enger said.

“;It's important to donate. We help our friends and neighbors. I can't imagine having to go someplace (like an agency) and ask for help,”; she said. “;If everyone could just take care of your neighbors, your community, no one would need the government to help them out.

“;If everyone donated just one can of food to the food bank every month, we would be OK in Hawaii. ... People always think somebody else is going to take care of it,”; she said.

Morishige said Helping Hands Hawaii provided emergency financial assistance of $138,329 to 1,631 households between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2007. This year, for the same period, Helping Hands provided $220,014 to 2,141 households, Morishige said.

“;This is a 31 percent increase in the number of households served, and a 59 percent increase in the amount of financial assistance provided,”; he said.

“;Last year, the majority of the requests were for smaller expenses, such as bus vouchers for transportation. This year, we saw an increase in the number of households requesting help with larger expenses, such as rent and utility bills. We have also seen a change in the type of families requesting help; we are seeing more single-parent families who are working more than one job,”; Morishige said.