In an old white mansion in downtown Durham, a staff of volunteers and workers answered more than 3,000 domestic violence crisis calls last year. They fear they'll take more now.

"People have utilized our services in the past six months more than ever," said Alma Davis, who oversees shelter services for the Durham Crisis Response Center. "I think people just need an out."

In 2007, nearly 250 women and children stayed in the shelter. Now, with soaring fuel and food prices, the agency is expecting more.

"I think it's putting women into a situation where they're having to make a hard choice," said Aurelia Sands-Belle, the Executive Director of DCRC. "I think that we have not yet begun to see the fallout of things yet. I think that we're probably on the cusp of seeing how all of this is going to play out."

Sands-Belle cited national statistics that show the effects of economic crisis on domestic violence. One federally-funded report in 2002 showed:

• At the individual level, economic distress increases the risk of violence against women.
• And partners who experienced two or more periods of unemployment between waves of the study were nearly three times as likely to be victimized as women whose partners had stable employment (12.3 percent versus 4.7 percent, respectively).

Staff at the Crisis Center said the increased cost of living is putting financial pressures on all aspects of domestic violence victims' lives, including those that might help otherwise.

"They may have been able to get help from their friends or from some other resources. Those resources are not there for them now," Sands-Belle said. "It throws them into a situation they're not ready for and if they're at the brink of financial difficulty, it can push them over."

Today, families are paying an average of $3.93 for a gallon of gas. That's more than a dollar more than last year. And it's just one of many financial pressures that United Way organizations have been watching closely.

"That is causing stress in the family and it's causing abuse to increase," said Nate Goetz, Director of Research and Advocacy at Triangle United Way. "I wish we could give you a statistical number. But anecdotally, through organizations like the Durham Crisis Response Center...we know that abuse is spiking."

They fear the current economic slump and the rising cost of living have already hit home.

"What we've seen throughout the Triangle has been a spike in the poverty rate," Goetz said.

He said it's up 20 percent in Durham County during this last year.

"It takes a woman in a domestic violence situation approximately seven times to leave...so when she does, she has a lot to contend with," he said. "When you leave a domestic violence situation, you leave with the clothes on your back."

Goetz said his research shows a single mother starting over would need to earn an income of $35,000 a year in Durham County. That would keep a roof over her head, pay for quality childcare, taxes and food. But it doesn't include any debt she may be trying to pay off.

"And that's just to make ends meet," he said. "That's to keep her out of poverty."