Last year, Harold and Bea Stecher spent their Thanksgiving handing out food and greeting visitors at Hope International Ministries’ holiday dinner.This year, they were the ones receiving meals.Harold, 87, and Bea, 75, have never had to ask for help before, but they’ve found it harder to get by this year with higher food and utility bills stretching their fixed income to the breaking point.Thanksgiving underscored how widespread similar stories are becoming across Central Indiana. Groups handing out free meals expected a surge in demand, but turnout was even higher than anticipated. Experts say the worsening economy is pushing thousands of folks who had been getting by into straits where they need help.“It’s a really scary time,” Bea said. She and her husband received a turkey and trimmings from Hope International, which they shared with their son, who is unemployed, and his six children, at the couple’s mobile home in Greenwood.“Without the meal, I wouldn’t have been able to feed my family,” Bea said. “I never thought we’d be like this.”Last year, 25,000 meals were distributed through the citywide Mozel Sanders Thanksgiving Dinner. On Thursday, Hope International ministries and 37 other sites distributed 33,000 meals as part of the dinner — an increase of 32 percent.Organizers met the demand for more food, but not every charity can keep up as the need for help grows. The foundering economy drives donations down, too.According to figures released by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in July, before the most recent market downturn, 83 percent of fundraisers nationwide said they thought the economy was having a negative effect on giving. Six months earlier, it was 48 percent.At the same time, employers have scaled back hours; food and other costs have risen; and people without work have found it harder to find a new job, said Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University.“People who maybe had jobs that were stable have found themselves unemployed,” Hicks said. “There are more people who are visible to us in need this year. They go to church with us, their kids are maybe in school with ours.”In the days before Thanksgiving, families flocked to a food giveaway in Hamilton County. More than 9,000 families asked for help, and people had lined up at the fairgrounds as early as 1 a.m., eight hours before the distribution began Nov. 22. The same demand is surfacing across the country: The Los Angeles Times reported that thousands waited in line for up to six hours at a food giveaway last week.In Indianapolis, Hope International handed out 25 percent more meals than last year, feeding 3,000 people. Jeanne Huiett, the group’s director, said many of the people she served, like the Stechers, said they didn’t need help before.“They’re finding themselves in a whole new arena,” Huiett said.And that arena extends beyond the need for food. In Center Township, the number of households receiving help from the township trustee to pay rent and cover utility costs — as well as to buy groceries — has gone up by more than 1,200 since last year. The trustee’s assistance generally serves about 8,000 people a year who don’t receive other social services.Alan Mizen, chief financial officer for the office, said the demand is mostly from the recently unemployed who have run out of benefits while struggling to find another job.“We’re seeing more people coming, and they’re new people,” Mizen said. “They’re at the point where they’re just too behind to stay out of (financial) trouble.”At the Salvation Army, the food pantry’s stock already is low, but organizers anticipate the need for help will stay constant.“We’re trying to basically keep up, and it’s difficult,” said Mike Rowland, a Salvation Army spokesman.Marsha Smith found out just how difficult.Smith, owner of Smokin’ Good Soul Food on East 38th Street, has provided free Thanksgiving meals for nine years at her restaurant. Last year, with $17,000 in donations and some restaurant revenue, she handed out 4,000 hot plates.But this year, she was able to raise only $2,000, and instead of cooking, she gave away gift baskets to 45 families. Donors she solicited said it was simply too difficult to help this year.“We did what we could,” she said. “I felt like I was letting people down.”As bad as the need is now, though, experts such as Hicks say worse is still to come.His projections show that Indiana’s unemployment rate of about 6.5 percent will grow to 7.5 percent or even 8 percent.That could mean about 50,000 more workers — and their families — added to the ranks of those struggling to survive.