Demand At Food Banks Up, Even In Well-Off D.C. Suburbs

[babylonsister]

Arthur Delaney
Demand At Food Banks Up, Even In Well-Off D.C. Suburbs

First Posted: 08- 5-09 11:20 AM | Updated: 08- 5-09 01:46 PM


Mezmure Dawit, 22, showed up at the food bank in Fairfax, Va., looking for help. He said he'd lost his job as a maintenance man at an apartment building last month and he needed food for his 14-year-old brother and 18-year-old sister.

He said their father had left them five months ago. "He just left. No money, nothing," said Dawit, wearing crisp blue jeans and a striped shirt. "It's been hard, man."

As the national unemployment rate nears 10 percent, more and more people are turning to food banks for help keeping food on their plates. Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charity, reports that demand at food banks across the United States is up 30 percent from last year.

Feeding America spokeswoman Maura Daly told the Huffington Post that as recently as May of last year, 90 percent of Feeding America's clients cited food and fuel costs as their reasons for needing assistance. By December 90 percent were citing unemployment as the primary reason.

"Over a six-month period we saw a really dramatic shift," Daly said.

The greater Washington, D.C. area has the second-lowest unemployment rate -- 6.6 percent -- of any metropolitan area in the country, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor. Nevertheless, local food banks and distributors report surging demand from scores of new clients.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/05/demand-at-food-banks-up-e_n_251338.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. A Billion Hungry People on Earth - More Coming Soon

Get your gardens and chicken coops going...


"The United Nations World Food Program reported this week that there are over a billion hungry people among the approximately 6.8 billion human beings now alive. That means that over one in seven of us is hungry or starving, and the number is rapidly climbing upward

“This year we are clocking in on average four million new hungry people a week, people who are urgently hungry,” according to Josette Sheeran, head of the UN Program."

http://thecalloftheland.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/a-billion-hungry-people-on-earth-more-coming-fast/

[babylonsister]

8. I'm not seeing enough concern. nt

[Sisaruus]

2. Please consider helping. Even $5 can make a big difference.

I posted this information the other day on another thread but it's worth repeating here. I work for a food bank that's part of the Feeding America network - my Food Bank distributes to 650 member programs in 6 counties, serving more than 250,000 people a year. We were distributing 31 tons of food a day in the first quarter of the year (which was up from earlier in 2008). I just checked the updated distrbution reports and we're now doing 35 TONS of food EVERY business day. And we're not keeping up with the demand. Many first time 'customers'. And it is not just the unemployed. Lots of working people who have had their hours cut to part-time work. We expect a long-term increase in demand even if the economic indicators start to show signs of improvement. It's going to take much longer for families to recover.

In this state (which happens to have the highest per capita income in the country), one child in eight is hungry or at immediate risk of hunger (and that data was generated before the recession began). In 2006, again before the recession, we surveyed our constituents. 42% reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel; 34 % had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage; and 30% had to choose between paying for medicine or buying food.

I'm the head of fundraising - a daunting task in this uncertain economic climate. But in this state, we can convert every $5 donation into enough food for 17 meals. So we keep asking - and so far, people are still giving. I worry about the day our donors can no longer afford it (many of our first time consumers were once our donors or volunteers). So if you have a spare $5 (or $5,000), now is a great time to give. You can find your local food bank at www.feedingamerica.org and putting your zip code into the food bank finder.

[asdjrocky]

4. Thanks for what you're doing, by the way.

[babylonsister]

5. Hi, Sisaruus, and thanks for all you do.

Keep posting! If you remind just one person it will be worth it. And the next time I get a mailing from the food bank I donate to, I will donate with you in mind. :hug:

[Sisaruus]

6. Thank you for such a nice reply.

I love my job - but hate that my job is necessary.

[asdjrocky]

3. There used to be 3 food banks in my town, now there are only two.

I take vegetables from my garden to both of them every week and it always pulls at my heart to see the lines.

[SpiralHawk]

7. "Let them pull themselves up by their own bootstraps." - Republicon Homelanders

[arcadian]

9. Fairfax is hardly "well off"

It's mostly row after row after row of town houses with a sizeable immigrant population.