Local charity runs low on cash

They come seeking help - things like food, clothing, a little extra to make the rent payment, even money to buy insulin and nitroglycerin - and sometimes they are turned away.

A slumping economy and a sharp decline in cash donations to the Salvation Army of Hill County over the past several months has seriously undermined the organization's ability to help the community's least fortunate, corps officer Ralph Guthrie said Wednesday. Money for the organization's assistance program is rapidly approaching the red, he said.

Since June, Guthrie has had to turn away more than 100 people asking for he...