As people have opened their hearts and wallets to tsunami victims overseas and hurricane evacuees in the United States, local agencies worry that the spirit of giving might tucker out before needs are met at home.

Donations have slowed down for area agencies this fall, and charities that feed the homeless and hungry are growing worried that they won't have what they need to help as the holidays approach.

"The last three months just -- 'slim pickings' isn't the word -- it's been barren because they sent everything to the Katrina victims," said Grady Strickland, Raleigh Rescue Mission's food services coordinator. "There's a lot of need. It's a good thing to have it where it can be sent to them, but it has affected the donations of people giving to organizations like us."

Strickland said the Raleigh Rescue Mission receives 70 percent to 80 percent of the year's nonperishable food items in November and December. Raleigh Rescue didn't get the expected surge in donations in October but has seen an upswing in the past two weeks.

In recent weeks, it has had to buy pasta for meals instead of grabbing some from its pantry.

Depleted pantries

The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, which opens its larder to 900 agencies in 34 counties that can "shop" its stock, has a depleted pantry after donating to hurricane relief.

And at the Helping Hand Mission on Wednesday, tables set up outside were heaped with bowling-ball-sized turkeys. Canned goods were stacked underneath. A refrigerated trailer full of frozen turkeys was parked on the side. But Helping Hand Director Sylvia Wiggins knew she'd need more birds.

Dozens of people descended on the property for a Thanksgiving Eve ritual. The bundled-up masses, which numbered more than 100 before the distribution began, were in line for a "love basket" that included a frozen turkey and fixings that would take the holiday of plenty to their tables.

Wiggins thought she'd need at least 700 turkeys. But as people arrived in cars or walked up pushing shopping carts, she still had fewer than 600 turkeys donated from other agencies, businesses and individuals -- and she hadn't made her quota on canned goods.

The scenario has become increasingly common this fall.

"A lot of places have really been suffering in financial donations and material goods," Strickland said. "Donations have been real slow. I don't want to say it's donor fatigue, I think it's more 'I just gave to here, and I just gave to there.' They're thinking that they've given, but they're not thinking locally."

Donors weary

Jane Cox, executive director of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, which provides food to six distribution centers and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, said she thinks people have grown weary of giving.

"People are exhausted," Cox said, "but we have every single faith that people's extraordinary generosity will continue because, gosh, people sure do need help."

That's how Wiggins approaches her mission. Just as things seem hopeless, help arrives. An alert rang -- beep, beep, beep, beep -- as a truck from the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, which rescues leftovers from restaurants and grocery stores, backed up close to the Helping Hand distribution area Wednesday.

Inside was a selection of prepared cakes from the bakery section of a supermarket. Volunteers unloaded it and packed the goodies into cardboard boxes as love baskets.

"I've got a big family coming, about 22 people," said Corrine Herndon, 46, who moved from Rocky Mount to Raleigh more than a year ago. She stood in line with a jacket zipped to her chin. She has been on disability because she had throat cancer.

Without the turkey, fresh potatoes, collard greens and packaged spaghetti she received, her family wouldn't have had a home-cooked meal Thursday. As her box was loaded into a station wagon, she spotted a bunch of bananas.

"Mmmmmm. I can make banana pie," she said.

In the end, the Helping Hand Mission was able to bring holiday dinners to hundreds of Triangle homes.

And Wiggins, like other nonprofit leaders, has an abiding hope in a community that, somehow, always comes through.

"As we head into the holiday season, even with the hurricane, people are still constantly giving," Wiggins said. "It's really nice. We have a generous society."