Wichita ? Most diners would welcome record crowds. Not this one.

The Lord’s Diner, which serves free meals every night to people in need, had expected crowds to diminish last month. Instead, it served more people than ever before — sobering evidence that the economy continues to struggle in Kansas’ largest city.

“It does scare me,” said Wendy Glick, executive director of the Lord’s Diner.

When the diner opened in February 2002, officials expected to serve between 250 and 300 people a night — most of them homeless.

After a record-setting summer, diner officials figured the start of the school year would drive demand down, as it had last year.

But the diner averaged 437 people a night in September, including 10 days of 500 or more. Most of the increase is in families of three or more people.

“We never, never figured we’d see as many families as we are,” Glick said.

State and local officials say it isn’t hard to find an explanation: The number of people in the Wichita area whose unemployment benefits expired nearly doubled in the past year. Home foreclosures jumped, too.

In the past fiscal year, final payments for unemployment jumped 91 percent in the Wichita metropolitan area.

“That means there’s a whole lot more people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits over a year ago,” said William Layes, chief of labor market information for the state department of labor statistics. “Young families are the ones with the least seniority and would be the first to be furloughed.”

That increase is more than double the statewide figure, Layes said.

“That much difference in one pocket is real cause for concern,” he said.

Home foreclosures in Wichita are up more than 10 percent in the past year, said Janet Harrah, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University.

The nation is entering its third year in an economic downturn, Harrah said, and the labor market is not recovering.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a downturn like this,” she said.

That is making Glick and other social services officials nervous.

“We’re meeting everyone’s needs — everyone is getting fed,” Glick said. “But if we continue growing like we’ve been growing, come the spring of next year we’re going to be a little bit concerned.”