Squeezed by prices, pantries ask help
Food banks seek $1 million boost for emergency aid
The state's four food banks and its hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters are struggling to cope with rising food prices, increasing demand, higher fuel costs, and cuts in the state budget.
This spring, the price of spaghetti has jumped 63 percent from the same time last year, according to the Greater Boston Food Bank. A case of canned peaches costs $16.82, or 57 percent more. Also, the price of peanut butter is up 19 percent, and frozen ground turkey has climbed 10 percent above last year.
As the food banks seek suppliers for the more than 30,000 turkeys they distribute on Thanksgiving, they have found the wholesale price for a pound of turkey has jumped 38 percent.
"We're in hard times," said Catherine D'Amato, president of the Greater Boston Food Bank, which provides about 20 million meals to 320,000 people a year.
"The dollar doesn't go as far at the grocery store, and if we have a higher percentage of people trading food money for rent, fuel, and medication, that means more people are going to pantries," she said. "There will be people who have never been to pantries before."
On Tuesday, D'Amato and nearly 100 others who oversee the distribution of food to more than a half-million people in Massachusetts every year will rally on Beacon Hill in an effort to persuade lawmakers to increase funds for the state's emergency food assistance program.
They want lawmakers to raise emergency food assistance by $1 million this fiscal year, to a total of $12 million, as it was last fiscal year. They are also urging lawmakers to increase emergency food assistance to $12.6 million for fiscal 2009.
"There are a lot of worthy programs out there, which we wish we could fund; but these are difficult economic times," said Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for Governor Deval Patrick's administration. "On this particular proposal, the governor doesn't have a position. But . . . we will work with the Legislature to do the best we can to meet the people's needs."
A Greater Boston Food Bank survey last month of 25 agencies around the state found that 96 percent had an increase in demand. Of those, 58 percent saw demand rise between 20 percent and 40 percent.
Over the past year, the survey found, 52 percent of agencies ran out of food at some time. Fifty-eight percent reported a drop in donations.
Eighty-two percent of agencies reported difficulty buying protein; 52 percent had a tough time buying vegetables; and 35 percent had trouble purchasing canned goods and starches.
D'Amato said demand at the 600 agencies that his food bank serves has swelled between 10 percent and 30 percent. As food prices and demand increase, the food banks are also struggling with a rise in fuel costs.
Jean McMurray, executive director of the Worcester County Food Bank, said that without an increase in state or federal aid, her agency will have less food for the 70,000 people who seek its help every year. She said she worries that donations will fall as donors need more food for themselves.
Andrew Morehouse, executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, said his staff and the 400 pantries they serve have seen a rise in the number of working people seeking help.
The food bank, which annually distributes about 5 million meals, received 39 percent less food from the federal government last year than in 2006, and he expects even less this year. To fill the gap, Morehouse said, he hopes to get a boost in donations from supermarkets, food drives, producers, and other sources.
"The bottom line is that unless we get relief, we're going to see increased prices and less food," Morehouse said. "We hope to get the relief."
David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.
