http://www.boston.com/dailynews/320/nation/As_economy_slows_nation_s_food:.shtml

As economy slows, nation's food banks struggle with surge in demand following attacks

By Ben Fox, Associated Press, 11/16/2001 01:07

A New Hampshire food bank says donations are down by half and a pantry in St. Louis is serving the poor just one day a week instead of four. A charity on Florida's Atlantic Coast has run out of such staples as soup, turkey, and pasta.

''It's like Mother Hubbard's cupboard,'' Brenda Noel, director of the food bank in Ft. Pierce, Fla., said as she surveyed the dwindling supplies in her warehouse.

Many charities that feed the nation's poor are struggling to meet demand as the economy worsens and donors limit charitable donations to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

''It's hard times,'' Josephine Cooper, an 84-year-old volunteer at the San Diego Food Bank, said as she helped distribute food at a church in a working class section of the city. ''There's just so much need out there right now.''

Some of those in line outside the church were newcomers, including Alma Barajas, a 24-year-old mother of two young daughters. She said had to seek help because her husband, a carpenter, had his hours cut at work.

''It's just really difficult for us right now,'' she said.

Many charities were feeling pinched before Sept. 11. The economy was sliding and foundations were doling out smaller grants as endowments shrank with falling stock prices, said Bill Shore, executive director of Share Our Strength, which provides support to food banks.

The came the attacks. Afterward, nearly 80 percent of the nation's food banks reported an increase in demand as thousands of jobs were lost, while 40 percent said donations were down, according to a survey by America's Second Harvest, a national network of aid organizations.

The combination of increased demand and reduced support could devastate some smaller nonprofit organizations, Shore said. ''Your less efficient organizations are going to be pushed out.''

The severity of the problem varies by region. But the shakeout may have already begun.

A food pantry in rural Tiff, Mo., ran out of supplies while another in St. Louis had to scale back its hours to one day a week, from four, said Glenn Koenan, president of the St. Louis Metro Food Pantry Association.

The New Hampshire Food Bank has experienced a 50 percent drop in contributions while demand is up 10 to 15 percent since Sept. 11, director Al Tremblay said.

''We are running out of everything,'' he said. ''It goes out faster than it comes in.''

The lines began growing at Seattle food banks after Boeing, faced with reduced aircraft orders following the attacks, cut thousands of jobs.

Requests for food also surged in Florida, which depends heavily on tourism. The number of people seeking help from the Second Harvest Food Bank, which serves 11 Florida counties, rose 90 percent in the weeks after the attacks. Some smaller agencies that receive its supplies, like the Treasure Coast Food Bank in Ft. Pierce, are nearly out.

Florida charities are responding with a massive food drive that has collected 50,000 pounds in the last five weeks. Taxi drivers in Orlando have pitched in to collect donated goods, and a local yoga school has offered a free class to anyone who brings in a bag of nonperishable items.

Other charities have also had to scramble.

Angel Heart in Los Angeles previously relied on catered leftovers from ritzy studio parties and Hollywood openings to supply much of the fresh food it delivers to 40 agencies that feed the city's poor.

But the parties came to halt because ''people were shell shocked'' after the attacks, said Chuck Scarpaci, the executive director of Angel Heart. The problems grew when studios canceled events and added security that made it harder to get onto lots to collect the food.

Angel Heart, which had to lay off half its staff of six, has begun to recover after finding some new donors and sources of fresh food, Scarpaci said. ''We're going to make it through,'' he said.

Not everyone feels confident. Food banks do most of their fund-raising between Thanksgiving and Christmas and they try to raise enough money for the rest of the year. If the mood doesn't improve, that will be hard.

''We're worried that we'll enter 2002 with less food in reserves and less money to buy it,'' said Koenan, of the St. Louis pantry group. ''It's hard to feel optimistic.''

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001