GRAND FORKS (AP) - A Grand Forks homeless shelter reports a record number of people needing help, and is seeking to expand.

Northlands Rescue Mission director Dave Sena showed visitors what used to be a conference room, saying he had to have the tables removed and the chairs stacked in the corner to make it a dorm.

Sena said the shelter is set up for 100 people but 104 of them showed up one night earlier this week, and four of them stayed in the conference room.

"We have seven guys in here," he said, indicating the unmade blanketed mattresses lined up in a neat row on the floor, little bundles of clothing and other possessions next to each one.

If the crowds continue, Sena said, he and the mission's 10 full-time and 10 part-time employees will have to start tearing down the dining hall each day so people can sleep there overnight.

The mission won't turn anybody away, he said.

"We seem to see more people moving from a lot of bigger cities to smaller areas, getting away from things, trying to start over," he said. "We have been seeing more people from Chicago and that area come through here. We also have a lot of people coming for the harvest, from southern states like Florida and Texas. And we always have people trying to get into Canada."

Shannon and Martin Hopper rode a bus from their home area of Lincoln, Neb., to Grand Forks, arriving eight days ago.

"There's no work back home," Martin, 46, said.

Shannon is on Social Security disability and unable to work. Martin has been looking and has done some jobs around the mission.

They heard there was work in North Dakota, so they stored their things with Shannon's mother, left their four cats with a friend and came north. They plan to find an apartment as soon as Martin gets a job.

Their story is pretty typical, Sena said: working people who live month to month who need a place to stay if they miss a paycheck or two.

Kirk Quamme, 42, moved in a week ago after he lost his job at a Grand Forks food processing company.

"I had an apartment, but it was $600 a month and I couldn't afford it," he said. He's worked day labor jobs this week and has an interview for a full-time job.

About half the mission residents work, Sena said.

He hopes to raise enough money to convert a fifth-floor apartment and private rooms into a dormitory to raise the mission's capacity to 125 people by January.

The mission used a budget of $900,000 in the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, including about $200,000 of "in-kind" donations of food and clothing. Next year's budget will be about $1.1 million, Sena said. The budget has about doubled in the past six years.