One of the organizations that gets help from the United Way is Heartland Hope Mission — the nonprofit provides families across Nebraska with food and other essentials they may need. "We primarily serve working-poor families, so most of the people coming through our doors are employed. They're just struggling to make ends meet," Heartland Hope Mission CEO Chelsea Salifou said.They've seen an increase in need since the pandemic."Every year we serve around 60,000 people, and then depending on the week, that can be anywhere from 300 to 600 families in a week," Salifou said.The organization said inflation has hit them hard."With inflation and the increased need and the supply chain issues — all of that has meant that our food cost as an organization has gone up over 400%," Salifou said.But they're still providing for those in need."Not only are we, as an organization, needing to provide food for more people, we're paying more for the food that we're buying and we're needing to buy a larger percentage of that food," Salifou said.Salifou said they're more than a pantry — the organization is a safety net between our neighbors in need and homelessness."We're meeting one on one with people, helping them with utilities assistance, helping them get on SNAP, providing referrals to resources within the community — that other piece of it to really ensure families don't end up in a downward spiral and become homeless. That's really been increased and we really focused on that aspect," Salifou said. And your donation to the United Way ensures groups like Heartland Hope Mission can keep those resources flowing to our community.Top headlines:KETV's Giving Wednesday supporting United Way of the Midlands Omaha's Onesies for OneWorld campaign Chronicle: 100 years of United WayCity of Omaha considering extra $19 million in funding for MAACH