ALBANY -Two days before Thanksgiving, construction worker Robert Briere did something he never expected to do: He went to a food pantry to ask for a little something to tide him over.
“I'm getting low right now,” said the 49-year-old Albany resident. “I got to get through another week or so. I'm just trying to get a little food to get by.”
Feeding America, a national food bank organization, is seeing a dramatic uptick in the number of new food pantry patrons like Briere. It is conducting a survey now to quantify how many first-time patrons have been forced to food pantries as the economy nose-dived.
“People who would give a food donation to the food banks are now themselves having to use the food banks,” said Phil Zepeda, a spokesman for Feeding America.
In Manhattan, the Westside Campaign Against Hunger fed more than 3,000 households in October through its food bank program, and about 15 percent were first-time families. That's compared with October 2007, when about 12 percent of the families were seeking help for the first time.
The concern is that as the economy worsens - New York's unemployment rate is 5.7 percent and projected to reach 6.5 percent next year - more families and individuals will rely on food banks and pantries for the first time. Compounding the problem, state and local governments are reducing spending on social services as most face of deficits and charitable giving is declining as the hard times hit even working households.
The need is already substantial. In New York state, more than 2 million people used food pantries or soup kitchens in 2005, according to Feeding America's most recent data.
New York has more than 3,000 food pantries and soup kitchens. One food bank in Albany saw the number of people seeking a meal through their breakfast program more than double from 65 people fed daily in 2007 to 140 in 2008, said Mark Dunlea, the executive director for the Hunger Action Network of New York State.
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On the Net:
Feeding America: http://www.feedingamerica.org
Hunger Action: http://www.hungeractionnys.org/
New York State: http://www.otda.state.ny.us/main/workingfamilies/default.asp
The Center on Philanthropy: http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu
AP-ES-11-28-08 1246EST
Feeding America, a national food bank organization, is seeing a dramatic uptick in the number of new food pantry patrons like Briere. It is conducting a survey now to quantify how many first-time patrons have been forced to food pantries as the economy nose-dived.
“People who would give a food donation to the food banks are now themselves having to use the food banks,” said Phil Zepeda, a spokesman for Feeding America.
In Manhattan, the Westside Campaign Against Hunger fed more than 3,000 households in October through its food bank program, and about 15 percent were first-time families. That's compared with October 2007, when about 12 percent of the families were seeking help for the first time.
The concern is that as the economy worsens - New York's unemployment rate is 5.7 percent and projected to reach 6.5 percent next year - more families and individuals will rely on food banks and pantries for the first time. Compounding the problem, state and local governments are reducing spending on social services as most face of deficits and charitable giving is declining as the hard times hit even working households.
The need is already substantial. In New York state, more than 2 million people used food pantries or soup kitchens in 2005, according to Feeding America's most recent data.
New York has more than 3,000 food pantries and soup kitchens. One food bank in Albany saw the number of people seeking a meal through their breakfast program more than double from 65 people fed daily in 2007 to 140 in 2008, said Mark Dunlea, the executive director for the Hunger Action Network of New York State.
---
On the Net:
Feeding America: http://www.feedingamerica.org
Hunger Action: http://www.hungeractionnys.org/
New York State: http://www.otda.state.ny.us/main/workingfamilies/default.asp
The Center on Philanthropy: http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu
AP-ES-11-28-08 1246EST
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