Relatives and friends are by far the primary source of assistance for people mired in unemployment, with about 70 percent of the long-term jobless saying they’re received no help from churches or community organizations, according to an NPR/Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

More than 40 percent of those polled said they’d gotten a lot of help from family and friends, compared to 14 percent from churches and other faith groups and 10 percent for nonprofit and community organizations.

Liz Hamel of the Kaiser Family Foundation said many of those long out of work don’t know what resources are available from community groups or are seeking specific services such as job placement that charities are less likely to provide. But many nonprofit groups say they are seeing more long-term unemployed people as friends and family reach the limits of what they can give.

The Salvation Army is hiring more jobless people to work as fund raisers during its annual red-kettle holiday campaign, NPR also reports.

While most bell-ringers are still volunteers, with the economy remaining stagnant the charity is bringing in more paid storefront solicitors as an extension of its social-service mission, the Salvation Army’s Dawn Wright said.