TOLEDO, Ohio —

A free service that helps people in need is seeing an increase in calls, a nd it isn't just because of the recent, temporary pause in SNAP benefits.

"2025 has just handed a lot of people one problem after another, after another," said Sandra De Steno, director for United Way's 211.

That's how De Steno describes this year. Because more people are in need, she said 211 calls across the 16 northwest Ohio counties they serve are up.

"On an average Monday, we usually take between 250 and 300 calls," she said. "Last Monday, we had 780."

De Steno said the increase first started at the beginning of the year, when government funding turned off for some organizations.

She said the real increase came over the summer, when the city of Toledo started collecting delinquent wate

See Full Page