Paying more; getting less.

That’s been the warning cry from the earliest looks at the 2010 budget for Erie County.

Cuts in state funding, picking up steam as they rolled downhill, blew deep holes in the local budget, where many programs required by law carry no accompanying dollars.

The result is a tax increase to pay for fewer services, and that’s just for county programs.

Other state shortfalls could remove the Captain from the Niagara, lifeguards from the chairs at Presque Isle State Park and other losses to the arts, public health and more.

Would County Executive-Elect Barry Grossman even run for office if he knew the full extent of the mess he was inheriting?

I would go on, lamenting our literal sorry state, were it not for several rays of light I’ve witnessed over the past few days; proof, perhaps, that sometimes it takes the worst of times to bring out the best in us.

For years WICU-TV has partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank for a one day Holiday Food Drive.

This was the first year I was able to see the process first hand; car after car, pulling up.

Some handed over just a few cans of beans; some gave entire boxes.

One lady handed over six frozen turkeys, giving six families the cornerstone piece of a real Thanksgiving dinner they might not otherwise have.

There’s no question that the need has grown.

But so has the response, and there is hope in that.

C’mon, you could argue, aren’t we just proving that the gap between who has and who has not is just growing larger?

Perhaps, were it not for the other program I’ve seen this week.

On the WSEE-TV side, we partner with the Food Bank through a program called Read ‘n Feed.

The idea came about through the complaint that kids who come to school hungry can’t learn.

So schools throughout Erie spend one week raising both food for the Food Bank and books for the school’s library.

Of course the goal is also to raise awareness about those issues with the kids and their families.

Totals are kept so that organizers know which classes raise the most, and then a little reward (like a pizza party) is thrown to say thanks.

Obviously the more affluent areas would do the most, right?

Would you believe that each year, the largest totals come out of some of the hardest hit areas of the city, areas where one in four families live below the poverty line?

Maybe the problems are more real there.

Maybe the Food Bank is more directly connected as a solution there.

But maybe, just maybe, it’s that the harder the circumstance the more fierce the response.

That’s not paying more to get less, but giving more and getting more.

That’s neighbors with a little more helping those with a little less.

And there is hope in that, too.