BEND, OR -- Bend's largest homeless shelter has been very busy in recent weeks. "We have seen an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness," says Bethlehem Inn Executive Director Gwenn Wysling, "We are just seeing the increasing demand for shelter services."

Wysling tells KBND News it's prompted an urgent need for food donations, "Bethlehem Inn is providing three meals a day, so we are looking to make sure that our pantry is full; sometimes that's canned foods, but it can also be some fresh vegetables, and fruit as well." She expects the shelter will serve more than 82,000 meals over the next several months, "Our goal is to make sure that we always have more than two weeks' supply of food on our shelves."

The nonprofit tries to make it easy for the community to help, "We have a list that we have on our website; we also have an Amazon wishlist that folks can go to, and it gives them an understanding of the basic staples that we're looking for," says Wysling, "So, they can come to the Inn in person, they can give us a phone call, and we can certainly work with folks that are interested in putting a drive together in their neighborhood, or school, or within maybe their book group or something like that."