Food banks starved for some
By Carrie Moore
Staff Writer
Appalachian News-Express
November 2, 2007

Due to rises in costs of food, energy and rent, people in Pike County and throughout the nation are having a harder time making ends meet.

While economists argue over whether the U.S. has entered a recession, the number of Pike Countians who use food pantries, homeless shelters and public housing is undoubtably rising. And, with federal funding becoming increasingly scarce, local programs are struggling to meet demand.

Sharon Yates, director of the Westcare Emergency Homeless Shelter, has seen a growth in the number of people, especially single males, requesting shelter. She says a “broad group of people” use the shelter’s services, but most either missed one too many rent payments, are going through a divorce, or are otherwise down on their luck.

Those who come to the shelter are not only homeless, but hungry, Yates says. The shelter always feeds them, even when it cannot house them.

Jarvie Gibson, director of Hope Incorporated, says he sees increases in numbers of hungry people every third Thursday of each month, when they line up outside Hope and its affiliate churches to receive about a week’s worth of free food. Lately, however, not all who line up take home food. This month, the program could only feed 513 of the 600 who showed up at its main site.

In the last three or four months, the number of people requesting food has risen by about 100 and Gibson expects an even greater increase during the winter months.

Another food bank, Helping Ease Life’s Poverty, has experienced a 12 or 13 percent increase in demand, according to program director Charles Sanders. He says those most affected by rising food and energy costs are people who live on Social Security and other fixed incomes. When people have $300 to $500 a month to live on, they have a hard time buying groceries, Sanders says.

Gibson agrees with Sanders that people living on low, fixed incomes are hard hit, but says many people he feeds work.

“Most of these people work at Wal-Mart or Kmart and they only let them have 20 hours a week at minimum wage, and you can’t make it on 20 hours a week,” he explains.

Food pantries and other charitable organizations are being dealt a double blow. Not only are their services in greater demand, but their funding is lower than it has been in several years.

God’s Pantry, a parent organization of local food banks, delivers food to over 350 of them in Eastern Kentucky, including Sanders’ and Gibsons’. It is federally funded, but, according to its director Marian Guinn, the funding has been declining.

In 2003, God’s Pantry received $5 million in bonus commodities. In 2006, it only received about $622,000, an 87 percent decrease. These commodities make up about 50 percent of local agencies’ food boxes.

Like federal funding for food pantries, state funding for the homeless shelter has also declined, Yates says. Last year, the legislature diverted coal severance money from the shelter to another area. Because of the diversion, the shelter began this year $38,000 in the hole.

Fortunately, the East Kentucky Miners raised $8,000 for the shelter and have vowed to help shelter staff with their annual food drive, beginning Nov. 2.

Currently a bill sits in the U.S. Senate that affects God’s Pantry and its national affiliate America’s Second Harvest. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week, and, if it passes, the amount of money distributed to food banks nationwide will significantly increase. Guinn urges people to contact their senators and encourage them to vote in favor of this bill, known as the “farm bill.”

Senator Mitch McConnell may be reached at (606) 864-2026. Senator Jim Bunning may be reached at (606) 435-2390.

All of the above agencies rely heavily on private contributions in addition to any amount of government funding they receive. To donate, contact God’s Pantry at (859) 255-6592, Helping Ease Life’s Poverty at (606) 456-4673, Hope, Inc. at (606) 432-4673, or Westcare Emergency Shelter at (606) 432-9442.

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