Food banks strive to keep up with increasing demand
As families arrive at the Society of St. Vincent DePaul food bank on weekdays, Nick Monday wonders whether the food bank's dwindling rations can feed them.
"The canned goods and dry goods are so so," he admits.
"But our meat, cheeses, eggs — that's where we're in trouble. I try to buy the best I can, but there's just not enough money."
Monday, who works at the food bank on East Locust Street, said St. Vincent DePaul currently serves about 650 families, about 100 more than last year at this time.
Even though food cupboards are meant to serve designated zip codes, St. Vincent DePaul turns no one away.
"The other places are open one hour a month, but these people need food now," Monday said.
"If we did restrictions, a lot of people wouldn't have food — and that's not what we're here for."
Unlike many cupboards, St. Vincent DePaul distributes perishable proteins, which might contribute to the rise in clients. But other cupboards report similar changes.
"Our numbers keep increasing every month," said Marilyn McElhinny, volunteer director at the Evans City Community Food Cupboard.
"Our numbers are going up, but the regular donations that we usually get — that's down."
As of last month, McElhinny was serving 100 families — 40 more than expected based on last year. As temperatures drop, she fears even more needy families will emerge.
Amy Tebay, one of the food bank coordinators at the Salvation Army on Cunningham Street, said although her client numbers are holding steady at about 150 families a month, phone inquiries have spiked."I expect there to be a rise — 30 to 50 more families — based on phone calls," she said.Like the Evans City cupboard, Tebay said the Salvation Army's donations are down. So the bags of food they distribute are smaller.Typically, food banks rely on community donations to top off bags of food received from the Butler County Community Action and Development Agency.Community Action buys the food with state funds, but also distributes some food obtained through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Emergency Food Assistance Program. To help them distribute food rations fairly, the agency tracks client populations at each of the county's cupboards.Debbie Gould, a spokeswoman for the agency, said about 1,874 families in Butler County currently receive food each month. That number has increased by about 100 families per year since the 2003-04 season, when 1,460 families received help.Although in recent years the agency's budget decreased, this year's budget of about $147,170 is up slightly from the 2007-08 season, when funding totaled $139,278.Despite that increase, Gould said the budget is still lower than in many past seasons, and rising food costs will likely offset those added dollars.Iris Valanti, public relations coordinator for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, agreed."The wholesale price for a case of pasta has gone up 88 percent in two years," she said, explaining the price had gone from about $7 to $13 in that time.As a result, shopping for all food has become a challenge."I'm getting the same amount of cases, but I'm not getting the same types of food," Gould said."We used to order tuna, sometimes three or four months out of the year. Everything's gotten more expensive, so the types of food you're ordering are not as good as before."Gould said extra items like food vouchers or turkeys during the holidays are still given out, mostly because of donations from the Butler Rotary Club and various other groups and businesses.According to the cupboards that currently are meeting demand, community involvement is key.In Harrisville, the Feed My Sheep cupboard attributes its success to various community food drives, held each year by local schools including Slippery Rock University.David Blewett, coordinator at the Covenant United Presbyterian Church on East Jefferson Street, said as well as receiving contributions from schools and businesses, eight churches contribute by donating food and by staffing the distributions."I've been very pleased with the broad support we get," Blewett said."The government food has been dropping over the last couple of years, but fortunately so far our donations have been compensating for that""That's the way it's been, and I hope it continues that way."
