Local Second Harvest Food Bank Experiencing Growing Demand
From Saturday’s Tennessean:
May 11, 2008
Food bank hopes donations meet need
Hard times force more to seek help
By NATALIA MIELCZAREK
Staff Writer
Considering the slowing economy and rising gas prices, a local food bank isn’t even dreaming of topping last year’s donations through the annual Stamp Out Hunger drive.
The Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee just hopes to get enough to keep up with the growing demand - and that may prove difficult.
“Because of the economy, people who used to be donors are now turning to our emergency food box program for help,” said Marina Delgadillo with Second Harvest Food Bank, a nonprofit that helps feed needy families.
Second Harvest Food Bank is among thousands of charitable organizations across the country that benefited from Saturday’s nationwide one-day food drive supported by the National Association of Letter Carriers. As the carriers dropped off mail, they picked up bags of donated food.
Last year, the event yielded 750,000 pounds of canned soup, vegetables and other nonperishable items in Middle Tennessee. Delgadillo said this year’s donations will be counted by Monday.
The tough economic times have pushed many here and across the country to also rely on the federal food stamp program, nearing the 2005 level
of requested assistance after Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands.
“We’re seeing price increases, and wages are remaining stagnant,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Washington, D.C.
“So a lot of families get strapped and get pushed and are required to take up services that they may not require in a different type of economy.”
West Meade resident Brenda Lynch and her two little boys gathered canned goods off the shelf in the pantry - pinto beans, turnip greens and cranberry sauce - and packed them in a plastic bag left by a letter carrier a couple of days before.
“We try to participate every year. This is not difficult; it’s taking stuff out of your pantry,” Lynch said Saturday morning. “I’ve known people who’ve had hard times. We’ve had hard times ourselves, but not that desperate.”
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