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Lines form at food banks when families fall behind

February 3, 2010 12:35 am

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

On Tuesday nights, people start lining up on the front porch of a Bowling Green house at 5 p.m.

The food pantry inside won't open for another hour. But the line can get long, as about 50 families show up each week for free food and clothing.

About 18 months ago, when the Glory Outreach food pantry in Caroline County first opened, just a few families stopped by for help. But more keep coming.

SERVE in Stafford County has seen similar increases. About 10 families used to stop by for food each day. Now, 25 will come before SERVE closes for the day.

These Fredericksburg-area food pantries are seeing what a national study just confirmed: More people are going hungry.

Yesterday, Feeding America released its Hunger in America 2010 study, which found 37 million Americans worrying about where they will get their next meal.

The Fredericksburg Area Food Bank and most of its member agencies participated in the study by surveying clients throughout the fall.

"You would never dream about some of these people, just looking from the outside, that they were in this situation," said Oya Oliver, director of the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank. "People started getting behind, utilities increased, food prices increased. Everything you touched, the prices were going up. You put all of this together, and hardship hit many houses."

The study showed that the Fredericksburg food bank fed 43,000 people in one year, a 60 percent increase from a similar study done in 2006.

These people came to the food bank's member agencies, asking for food. Some of those agencies feed 150 families in a day.

On any given day, the food bank and its members give out 6,000 meals to hungry people in the Fredericksburg area.

"There's just so much need out there, there's no end. You could make a mile-long list," Oliver said. "Sometimes, if a person thinks about it, you get overwhelmed."

But Oliver and other pantry directors say the community's generosity keeps food on many local tables.

"Yes, the need is there," said Darlene Keener, who helps run Glory Outreach. "At the same time, I think hearts are there. And money is donated to places like this to keep them going, that has been remarkable."

That Bowling Green pantry started as a project for a Sunday school class at Salem Baptist Church in Sparta. Once a week, at a small house in Bowling Green, volunteers give out food and clothes.

They talk to clients as they wait their turn for groceries and clothes. And they hear stories of recent job losses, rising bills, difficulty making ends meet.

The stories resonate throughout the country. The survey found that many of the hungry have recently lost jobs. Many others reported health problems, disabilities and single-parent homes.

At SERVE's location near Stafford Courthouse, most people coming for help have just lost a job, said director Marilyn Stevens.

And hunger is just the beginning, she said.

"People aren't just coming in for food. They need everything," she said. "They need coats. They need firewood. They need food. They need medicine."

With both the need and the numbers rising, it can get overwhelming to keep up. Halfway through the fiscal year, SERVE has already helped 150 more families than in all of the last fiscal year.

But churches and community groups have donated more food, supplies and money, Stevens said.

More rumbling stomachs are definitely the trend. But those who work with hunger in the area said the other trend has been generosity.

"We would really like to thank the community from the bottoms of our hearts," Oliver said. "They keep us going, there's no other way we could do this."

Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com