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(CNN) -- Ordinary Americans aren't the only ones being punished by tough economic times. Charities say they need help, too.

Food bank shelves across the country are getting emptier because of high food prices and increased demand.

Charitable groups that help the poor -- food banks, thrift stores, shelters -- say the slumping economy is eroding their ability to help the nation's needy. They report declining donations and a surge in people seeking help.

Bill Bolling, the founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, says he's experienced several recessions but never seen so many working people visit food banks. Bolling's charity donates food to 800 nonprofit groups in Georgia.

"This is new for us," Bolling said. "People are giving up buying groceries so that they can pay rent and put gas in the car."

National charities like Goodwill Industries International, Inc and The Salvation Army give the same grim assessment -- donations are down, needs are up.

At least 1.3 million more people have enrolled in the federal Food Stamp Program compared to last year, says Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America's Second Harvest, one of the nation's largest hunger-relief groups. It donates food to at least 200 food banks.

"People who have been in food banking for years say it's the worst they've ever seen," Fraser said.

People often assume food bank customers are homeless. But several food bank officials across the country say that many of their customers are working class people and their numbers are increasing.

They are people like Lynette Copeland, who works full-time as a clerk at a rehabilitation center in Atlanta, Georgia. She's buying a Habitat for Humanity house and drives a car. But she says she doesn't make enough money to pay her bills.

Copeland says she depends on the Atlanta food bank to feed the four grandchildren she raises alone. She says the high costs of food, fuel and daycare force her to eat meat sparingly and shop at Goodwill.

"Although everything is going up, your pay rate doesn't go up," she said.

Lately, Copeland says she has noticed a change in the makeup of the customers visiting her food bank. Instead of the homeless and destitute, people come from all walks of life: the elderly, men in security guard uniforms and mothers with children.

Many are first-timers. Some are too ashamed to ask for food in front of others; so they walk to the side of the food bank where fewer people are gathered to receive food, she says.

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