Published: Tue, Dec. 23, 2008 12:30AM

Modified Tue, Dec. 23, 2008 05:20AM

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A quick search of the site, however, gave Moshay's staff an opportunity for immediate outreach. Under "housing," they found a post by a man who said he was about to be evicted from his apartment because he couldn't pay the rent. A staffer sent e-mail asking him to dial 211, the agency's 24-hour, multilingual service that tells callers which of the nearly 20,000 nonprofits across the state might be able to help them.

"Craigslist is just an indicator of what we're seeing in the broader community," Moshay said. "The need is great."

La Deidre Anderson has sold plenty of things on Craigslist, but did not ask for help until now. "Times like this," she said, "you kind of have to bite your pride."

Anderson flew to North Carolina with her 8-year-old son for a job interview in July. She was offered the position the next day, and stayed.

It's too expensive to rent a truck and return to California to get the furniture she had been collecting for her first apartment. Having it shipped would cost about $3,000.

So her place in Apex is nearly empty. She and her son eat together on a borrowed card table. She bought a microwave at a Goodwill store. Her son has been sleeping with her, on an air mattress.

He has a loft-style bed frame in his room, which Anderson found on Craigslist, but it has no mattress; that's what she asked for in her post. She also scours newspaper classifieds and other Web sites where items are offered free.

"It sounds so sad, I know," she said. "My rent and my bills are covered. I just don't make enough to save anything, is what it is."

Responses to Craigslist pleas are mixed.

Vicki Shearin, who was looking for clothes for her boys, got no response. But she's not complaining. She and her husband have six boys: two each from previous marriages and two together. Christmas morning, they'll all be home.

"We're just going to have everybody be there and be glad that we're all together," she said. "We're feeling very blessed."