ONE OF THE GREATEST things about living in an area like Mercer County, we can always count on people to help their neighbors when the going gets tough.

Right now we’re going through a brutal recession that has hit our area harder than many other parts of the state. In fact, some would call it a depression.

As they often say, the difference between the two is: A recession is when you’re neighbor is out of work; a depression is when you’re out of work.

(Depression is also being a fan of the Cleveland Browns, but that’s for a different column.)

The downturn in the economy has forced more local residents than ever to seek help. And that’s where the 30 agencies of the United Way of Mercer County come into play.

This year the UWMC is counting more than ever for those who can to step up and help their neighbors. One of the biggest problems of course is that a lot of people who donated to the United Way in the past, are now out of work and seeking help from agencies that they once helped fund.

But there is a lot of good news filtering in. People are starting to step up to fill that funding void.

It was very gratifying to learn this past week that teachers in the Hermitage School District have already tripled their amount of contributions over last year. It’s a great step in the right direction that hopefully educators in other districts will emulate.

“I can’t tell you how elated I am about their response,” said Hermitage school director Ray Slovesko, who with Sharpsville schools Superintendent Mark Ferrara is chairing the UWMC’s Education Division. “It’s very heartwarming. New Superintendent Dan Bell has been a big help and as we told the teachers, ‘We’re asking that you give more money because you can.’ ”

Ray added, “We’re not done yet. I think we’ll have even more money coming in (in Hermitage). The credit really goes to the teachers who care about the students and their community.”

One of the key points that my long-time friend Ray made was that people who can, need to give more this year. He’s right. If people can step up even more this year to help the needy, with any luck, the local economy will turn around by next year.

There is a push under way to get more donations from teachers and doctors — two professions that haven’t been hit as hard by the recession as some others. And for various reasons their contributions to the United Way have been relatively light as compared to even blue-collar workers.

But if the response of Hermitage teachers is any indication, there is hope that donations will increase in the area of education as well as health care.

And already hospital administrators and some local doctors have gotten behind the push to boost donations in that area. The United Way received good news that a matching grant has been offered to provide 25 cents for every dollar contributed by physicians. That means that for every dollar given by doctors, it will bring in another quarter — for every thousand, it means $1,250.

UWMC campaign co-chairs Frank and Linda Evans make a great point that because of payroll deductions at most businesses, it is really painless for people to give. And really to give $10 or $20 a week, isn’t a big burden for most of us.