Times are tight for many families, but in Lincoln alone more than 6,000 families are living in poverty, according to the center for people in need. They say the reach of poverty extends far beyond those who go hungry.

You might not be able to see it at first glance, but Beatty Brasch of The Center for People in Need says its there.

"It's different than the big cities where you see a lot of people living outside, double up, tripled up with families," said Brasch. "You don't see them on the streets like you do in cities so you think everyone's ok, but they're not."

This Thanksgiving, The Center for People in Need surveyed more than 1,500 people who use their services. They say the results were astounding.
More than half of the people surveyed said they didn’t have enough food for the week.
More than forty percent said they had to skip meals.
42% did not have utilities that day, and 8% said they didn’t know where they were going to live next week.

"It's devastating and it also causes an incredible amount of stress on the family," said Brasch.

Brasch says about 14 percent of Lincoln's population is low income. That's up from the 12.9 percent found by the US Census Bureau in 2007.

"When I say low income, for a family of four they have less basically than $22,000 a year. Half of those live on less $11,000 a year, and half of that 11,000 live on less Than $6,000 a year."

Those families don't have the luxury of falling back on a support system.

"Their friends and family are low income and they don't have anyone to turn to, so they're in constant turmoil," said Brasch.

But Brasch says the effects of poverty aren't just felt by those who go hungry.

"Poverty costs the city a lot of money," said Brasch. "Think about the rise in crime, the rise in desperation, the rise in mental health costs because of poverty. If we do not address it its going to have a serious effect on the well being of the city in the long run."