Daily Kos

Food Pantries Turning People Away as Demand Doubles

by bink

Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 09:21:43 AM PDT

Food pantries are seeing a growing tide of people they've never before had to assist, many of whom work full-time jobs. The poverty in America that this crisis reveals is a national disgrace. Promoted from the diaries with minor edits. -smintheus

From the New York Times, we hear today that food pantries in Connecticut are turning the hungry away:

Amid this holiday season, food pantries in lower Connecticut are reporting a surge in the number of residents seeking a decent meal.

...

"I have had to turn people away," said Joyce Gumbus, who oversees the 164 Wilson Memorial Food Pantry in Stamford. The pantry is providing groceries for up to 400 people a week, compared with 200 a week last year, Ms. Gumbus said.

...

For the Food Bank, the clearinghouse for some of the pantries’ food, that translates into some difficult challenges, like providing Thanksgiving turkeys for 6,000 families this year, versus 3,000 in 2006. It means handling about 500 tons of food annually, 161,000 pounds of which were distributed in November alone, Ms. Lombardo said.  "The need has doubled in the last year," she said. "And we don’t expect it to get better anytime soon."

And on Long Island, there are fears that donations are not adequately keeping up with the spike in demand:

Long Island Cares / the Harry Chapin Food Bank and Island Harvest, a food rescue group, are reporting a 42 percent increase in demand for food over last year among some of the nearly 800 nonprofit community groups they serve.

...

Nearly half of emergency food aid recipients on Long Island come from households with at least one employed adult, according to a 2006 study by America's Second Harvest Network. More than half are women.

And donations are not keeping pace with need. Island Harvest is predicting a food shortage of more than 195,000 meals by year's end.

It's not just the New York area.  Its the same all over.

Nashville:

More and more people depend on their local food pantry to feed their families and that's putting a strain on places such as the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Donations are not down, but this year, more people are asking for help.

"And when you see empty, empty shelves, that means there are empty stomachs in this neighborhood," said Chris Sanders, development director of St. Luke's Community House in West Nashville.

Cleveland:

Christmas is just around the corner and the only thing more barren than the trees outside seemed to be the shelves of food banks.

According to a news release from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, food banks statewide are experiencing shortages. These shortages have left some agencies rationing their food in order to stretch the number of people helped.

To help aid the statewide shortage, eight agriculture groups donated $8,000 to the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks this week. The money will be used to provide hunger relief to soup kitchens, food pantries and other assistance programs all over Ohio.

Chicago:

According to Debra Ocampo, director of the Union Ave. United Methodist Church Pantry, supplies have gone down to about 2/3 of what they were in recent years. These past months have been especially troubling: barely any vegetables or fruit have been donated.

...

Vicki Escarra of America's Second Harvest estimates that more than 35 million Americans lack access to enough food to stay healthy.

It's not just the homeless who are affected, but 25 million Americans, including individuals who are unable to work to support themselves: 9 million children and 3 million senior citizens are in need of food.

Philadelphia:

The line outside the Catholic Social Services food pantry in Norristown yesterday was longer than usual - 62 people when there are normally 40.

...

These days, as demand for food increases, most food banks around the nation as well as in the Philadelphia area are coping with diminished supplies - an economic formula for hard times.

"Maybe the worst in 26 years," said Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America's Second Harvest-The Nation's Food Bank Network, a hunger-relief charity to which 85 percent of all U.S. food banks belong.

New Jersey:

Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey is struggling to keep up with demand as its food pantry faces the largest number of requests for assistance and emergency food packages in its history.

"We're doing our best to maintain the current level of giving, but it's getting very difficult to keep up with the demand," said JFS executive director Tom Beck.

Massachusetts:

If the number of people walking through their doors is any indication, social service workers say 2007-2008 is already shaping up to be the toughest winter in recent memory.

Dramatic price increases in food, gasoline, heating oil and other basics is resulting in a "perfect storm," making this already the worst winter Tom Gifford, executive director of Beverly Bootstraps, has seen in 15 years. People have to cut back on food, making pantries a necessity, he said.

"Those economic factors are really grinding families down," he said.

There's more below the fold.

  • ::

Georgia:

 Two food pantries operated by Rome Action Ministries have run out of goods.  To cushion the blow, the ministry closed the South Broad United Methodist Church pantry Dec. 10 and will not reopen it until Dec. 27. The Garden Lakes Baptist Church pantry will close Friday and reopen Jan. 3.

...

"This is new for us. We haven’t had to close pantries before," Aiken-Freeman said. "We’re hoping to fill up by Jan. 3, but it’s the leanest we’ve ever seen it."

She and other administrators of local food assistance programs attribute the difficult circumstances to an extreme surge in need in the past 12 months, most likely brought on by layoffs and price hikes for everything from oil and gas to rent and utilities.

Dallas:

"The problem is bigger than the average person comprehends, and it's growing," said Jan Pruitt, chief executive officer for the food bank.

Catholic Charities in Dallas reports that it has seen a 15 percent to 20 percent jump in requests for emergency assistance with rent and utilities and a similar increase in requests for food at some of its four social-service centers.

"We have more people calling because there's a lot of fear and anxiety out there," said Andrés Treviño, director of elderly and family assistance for the Brady Center, which also partners with the North Texas Food Bank.

Boise:

This year the Idaho Salvation Army says their donations are down 30 percent and they don't have enough supplies.

That means they have to ration their supply stock to avoid having to shut their doors to needy families.

Salvation Army director Rick Hempsmyer said if donations don’t pick up, Boise will see more homeless people in the street – and says more people will die from hunger.

Portland:

The Gleaners' story is one that charities are repeating all over the Portland Metro Area. Donations at the Oregon Food Bank are down from last year. Leaders say the federal farm bill now stuck in Congress has stalled the emergency surplus food program that brings in millions of pounds of food to Oregon.

New Mexico:

The budget crisis at the Albuquerque Roadrunner Food Bank has affected The Storehouse in Socorro, but not enough to stop the distribution of food.

"We're going to make it through December because of the generosity and caring of the community of Socorro," said Director Valerie Key.

The Roadrunner Food Bank was forced to cancel December orders to other storehouses in the region when high fuel costs exhausted their budget.

California:

The California Association of Food Banks reported last week that federal emergency food supplies are dramatically lower in 2007 than in previous years, jeopardizing the network’s ability to serve the state's hungry.

Napa organizations, including the Salvation Army, say they’re feeling the sting.

...

"It’s an unprecedented set of circumstances," said Kim McCoy Wade, executive director of the California Association of Food Banks. "As the holidays approach, many of the food banks in the state are lacking the most basic items. We are sending families away without the fundamental products that make up a nutritious meal.

Hunger relief organizations are reporting that a "perfect storm" of circumstances is keeping them from meeting demand for food ... at the same time demand is surging.

The perfect storm?

Rising food prices.

Rising fuel prices.

Unemployment.

Underemployment.

Stagnant and declining wages.

Funny, that.

Meanwhile ...

Economic reporting on cable news mostly consists of scantily clad damsels screaming from the floor of the New York stock exchange about how "valuations remain strong," followed by news anchors with empty expressions on their faces, asking, "Why don't Americans understand how good this economy is for them?"

I think that we are all getting the idea that something has gone wrong here.  What kind of country can't afford to feed its own citizens?  A failed country.  And what if that country is one of the richest in the world?

The nation's food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens and other hunger relief organizations are asking for donations this year.  I found the Second Harvest website a quick and easy way to find helping organizations in my zipcode.  In fact, I reached my state food bank by mail and they were able to forward a list of needy organizations in my neighborhood who were looking for donations and volunteers.

But private donations are not enough.

We need government to exercise its power and work to alleviate the underlying problems that are causing the spike in hunger during this year's holiday season.  There is simply no reason that this should happen in America, except for the neglect and ill-will of those who we have entrusted with our tax dollars and political power.

Tags: Economy, Hunger, Class War, Recommended, Front Paged (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

Permalink | 256 comments