For many of America's social service charities, this holiday season is providing a daunting mix of heavier demand for services, reduced funding and an ever-widening range of clients seeking help as economic woes persist.

Two recent surveys convey the extent of the challenges.

According to Catholic Charities, 76 percent of the agencies in its national network are seeing an increased demand for food while 72 percent have cut operating costs. The Bridgespan Group, a Boston-based adviser to charities, said 80 percent of the 100 nonprofits responding to its latest survey are coping with funding cuts.

Rebecca Brislain, executive director of the Florida Association of Food Banks, said many of her affiliates are experiencing unprecedented demand for assistance as the state reels from rampant home foreclosures and job losses.

"A lot of people are accessing food banks for the first time and don't know how to navigate the system," she said. "Just a few months ago they were living the American dream."

Brislain said one charity in the Fort Myers area was surprised to get a request for a food delivery to a home in a seemingly affluent gated community. Inside, she said, were a mother and father who'd both lost their jobs and had been sleeping on the floor along with their children after selling most of their possessions _ including furniture _ in an effort to keep their house.

In Boca Raton, on the other side of Florida, the new clients seeking help from Ruth Rales Jewish Family Services include victims of Bernard Madoff's investment Ponzi scheme.

Beth Levine, the nonprofit's administrative services director, cited the woes of a 78-year-old man who'd been investing with Madoff since the 1970s.

"Now he and his wife are living on Social Security," Levine said. "It's heartbreaking. He told me, 'We had a wonderful life, but now the ride is over.'"

She said the man initially declined assistance but later requested deliveries from the agency's Kosher food pantry.

"He's a very proud man," Levine said. "He said, 'I'm so embarrassed. But I don't have a choice.'"

The background for this charity season is grim, with a national jobless rate of 10 percent, cutbacks in social service spending by many states, and 49 million Americans lacking access to adequate nutrition _ the highest level of "food insecurity" since the Agriculture Department began tracking it in 1995.

In Richmond, Va., the number of people seeking help from the Central Virginia Foodbank is up 50 percent from last year, said executive vice president Rich Schultz.