When people first meet Scott Beckwith, sometimes they cry. Sometimes they pound their fists on his desk and scream. Sometimes they can't bear to look him in the eye, out of shame.

Beckwith is a case manager in the Concord office of the state's Family Assistance Division. His responsibilities include interviewing people seeking food stamps, welfare, subsidized health insurance and child care, among other services. It's a busy job that's become a lot busier in recent months. Several times a day, Beckwith sits in a private room with applicants, reviewing their lives as summed up in dry financial figures on bureaucratic forms. But the job also gives Beckwith a front-row view of the recession, putting names, faces and emotions on unemployment statistics.

"My approach is, I'm going in there to help them, and hopefully they see that," Beckwith said. "A lot of times, they're just looking for someone to talk to, to tell their problems. They may have no one else to talk to."

Beckwith is among the dozens of case managers trying to accommodate a recent rise in applicants for state assistance. This year has seen a 19 percent increase over last year in the number of Concord-area residents receiving food stamps - and there's still a month remaining. Statewide, about 4,000 more people applied for food stamps in October 2008 than in the previous October. And in November, the growth in new applicants was more than triple the previous month's increase.

Amid that growth is a change in the profile of the typical applicant. Beckwith said he's seeing more people with savings accounts, stock portfolios and homes of

their own, people laid off after years of steady of employment. He's worked with computer programmers, factory workers, musicians, carpenters, retirees, single parents and entire families.

"I don't know how many times I've heard people say, 'I never dreamed I'd be here,' " Beckwith said. "We're seeing a lot more of those people."

Terry Smith, director of the Family Assistance Division, said the requests for help had reached historic levels and that new cases are putting pressure on already strained offices. He said more people usually apply for food stamps in the late fall and winter, as seasonal warm-weather jobs scale down.

"But we've never seen a jump like last month," Smith said.

The statistics are borne out daily at the Concord district office. Most mornings, a line of people has formed by the time the doors open at 8 o'clock. The waiting room is a clean, well-lit space, with stacks of brochures offering information on health care, drug treatment and help for the elderly. A framed photograph of Gov. John Lynch peeks from behind a metal coat rack. Three receptionist windows line one wall. Newcomers approach one of those windows, receive a stack of forms to fill out, and wait to hear their name announced through a microphone when it's time for their interview with a caseworker.

When Beckwith gets a new application, he may check to see if the person has received public benefits in the past. But, more and more, the applicants are seeking state help for the first time. Those people are easy to spot: The words NOT KNOWN are penciled across the top of their forms.

One of the recent newcomers last week was a 46-year-old man named Adrian who lives in Boscawen. As Beckwith read over his file, Adrian tapped his left foot and fumbled with his wallet. He told Beckwith he had gotten by for years with odd jobs, but he had been unable to work since June, when his license was revoked for drunk driving. He said he was several weeks behind on his rent.

"I lost my license and lost all my momentum," Adrian said quietly. "I lost everything. I've been to Labor Ready and the unemployment office, but I haven't got any leads."

Beckwith asked if he had applied for help paying his heating bill.

"No. This is all new to me," Adrian said.

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