Food aid demand on rise

“Because these are suburban settings, people don’t necessarily see the level of need that exists out here,’’ said Judy Salerno, executive director of the Natick-based Foundation for MetroWest, which recently distributed $50,000 in grants to 41 area food pantries.

Christmas capped what was perhaps the busiest stretch ever for many local food-distribution centers. Pantry directors in Natick, Needham, and Holliston report more families requesting food during the past several months, and while schools and community organizations continue to donate, a decline in individual contributions is making it difficult to keep pace.

And it’s not only people who are out of work who are turning to food pantries.

“People’s incomes have declined while their costs of living have not, so they need some additional support,’’ Salerno said.

Anne Keliher, executive director of the Natick Service Council, said its food pantry has been deluged with families in need of help. The council is moving the pantry from its location in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on East Central Street to a Webster Street space that it will share with the Natick Housing Authority.

Keliher reported a 15 percent increase in the number of families who started visiting the town’s pantry this fall, and an even larger increase in the number taking part in its Thanksgiving meal and holiday gift programs. Over the past year, nearly 3,000 families visited the pantry, she said.

Despite a grant from the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation aimed at providing more fresh fruit, vegetables, and proteins to the Natick Service Council’s clients, the pantry still relies largely on donations, Keliher said, and she has noticed a decline in contributions.

“Regular donors, even though they don’t need our services, are experiencing financial hardships themselves,’’ Keliher said. “They’re giving less, or maybe not as frequently throughout the year.’’

The pantry had to cut back on its holiday gift program last month and do extra fund-raising to buy items such as pies. In addition, the pantry relied on more donations of turkeys for its holiday meals, “because we couldn’t afford to purchase them,’’ Keliher said.

The Needham Community Council’s food pantry began serving 22 new families this holiday season, bringing the total number to 182, said executive director Sandy Robinson.

Ninety percent of the pantry’s funding comes from donations from local businesses and families. Community members continue to donate despite the tough economy, but the pantry has been running through their gifts quickly, Robinson said.

While the pantry’s stock is in good shape at the moment, Robinson said, she expects it to decline significantly by early March without an influx of donations - and the beginning of the year is often a difficult time to draw sufficient contributions.

“During the holidays, everyone remembers us, but I’ve got to store it and make sure we can give it out while the winter proceeds,’’ Robinson said.

The pantry has moved a food collection drive by local Boy and Girl Scout troops to March to fill the late-winter void, she said, and it distributes a list each month of the items it needs the most.

“We’re always low on canned fruit, coffee and tea, and cooking oil,’’ Robinson said.

The Holliston Pantry Shelf does not distribute prepared meals; families can pick up items once a week much as they would at a grocery store.

“I’ve been shopping from the pantry since it started, and I can’t ever remember food going out as fast as it does now,’’ said Sylvia Stickney, treasurer and volunteer director at the pantry, on Water Street in Holliston.

Although the number of donations has been consistent with previous years, individuals have been contributing less money, she said.

“We’re all right at the present time, but of course we’re spending a great deal of money on food, and I expect it won’t change this year,’’ Stickney said.

In a shift from other area communities, the number of visitors to the Wellesley Food Pantry last month was lower than in November, said director Cynthia Scott.

But that doesn’t mean the pantry, which serves about 180 local families from its quarters in the basement of the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church on Washington Street, has plenty of supplies.

“Our stock has been pretty exhausted for many months,’’ Scott said.

For the first time, the pantry remained open over the summer, Scott said, contributing to the current pinch.

“The inventory had already been low in June, when we typically have to buy a lot of food,’’ Scott said. “This fall, we were so bare, but we used the money we’d been given and bought a lot of food.’’

Scott said she will continue to remind residents and businesses that food and monetary donations are needed not only during the holidays, but throughout the year.

“People assume that in an affluent community like Wellesley, there’s no need for a food pantry. But there definitely is a need,’’ Scott said.