PROVIDENCE – If stocking the pantry or filling the gas tank is making you cringe lately, imagine the plight of those who stock food pantries for hundreds of people or fill trucks that ship food across the country.
For the people who work in Rhode Island's non-profit organizations the recent economic crunch hits from two sides: it is more expensive to run their charities and more people, faced with a high cost of living, need their help.
Many Rhode Island food banks and shelters have seen an up tick in demand in recent months, as well as a change in demographics. Andrew Schiff, Rhode Island Community Food Bank executive director, said that many of the 300 member agencies that receive food from the bank have reported they are now serving "people who had never depended on food assistance before. The recession means more people losing their jobs, more people who were working who now are unemployed." Schiff predicted a ten percent increase in demand for 2008.
Because the Community Food Bank receives its food straight from large suppliers through an organization called America's Second Harvest, increasing food prices have had less of an effect than fuel prices – they are responsible for paying to ship that food to Rhode Island on diesel-fueled trucks. Schiff said he depends on donations to pay for that fuel, a dependence that is cause for some concern. "Even in this recession if donations stay level, we need more because the costs are greater," he said.
But, Schiff added, rising costs are at the forefront of everyone's minds and hopefully Rhode Islanders will continue to donate to the food bank. "Every time someone goes to get gas or they go to the supermarket they think 'Wow, how do [poor] families deal with this?'" he said.
At the Bradford Jonnycake Center in Westerly, president Leo Dery said he and his volunteers have made changes to meet the increased demand they've experienced recently. They recently moved to a new, larger facility, which has allowed them to offer more help than ever before. Dery said 41 new families received assistance from the center in May, and 39 new families the month before. Food pantry hours were recently expanded simply to reach out to the working poor, and a new milk program was established.
Dery has noticed more "middle class" people visiting the center in recent months who work but don't have savings to get them through a rough patch, like an illness or layoff. "A lot of the people coming to us need help getting through the hump... there is a definite squeeze on families who do not have savings."
Dery said the Jonnycake Center is getting by, despite the high prices of food and gas, with the help of a thrift store run by volunteers. Proceeds from the store go to pay most of the center's operating costs. "We're trying to be the smallest food pantry in New England," Dery said, but increased demand – four companies in the Westerly area have laid employees off recently – is making growth necessary.
Lorraine Burns is the director of Food Ministry at St. Teresa of Avila parish in Providence. Like many others involved with charitable organizations, she is bracing for a large increase in demand. "We're going to see a lot more people due to... this poor economy. The dollar is already stretched and it can't be stretched any further," she said.
For 13 years she has operated the small food pantry out of the church basement to feed the hungry in the neighborhood. In the last several months she said there has been about a ten percent increase in people visiting the food pantry, which is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
She depends heavily on the generosity of donors, but said she doesn't worry about donations dropping off as more people feel the pinch of higher prices. "Someone, somewhere will come through to me," she said.
For now, she receives donations from parishes across Rhode Island – Christ the King in South Kingstown, Blessed Sacrament and St. Thomas in Providence, St. Francis de Sales in North Kingstown, and St. Timothy in Warwick, as well as many other organizations and individuals. Last week she received a check from the City of Providence Telecommunications Department, which holds dress-down days periodically and donates the proceeds to Burns. Though optimistic, Burns said that she will probably have to go door-to-door in the near future to solicit donations, something she has not had to do since opening the food pantry in 1995. "People who used to donate to me are coming for help now," she said.
When she worries if there will be enough food to feed the people who need her help, Burns said she prays to Saint Francis. "When the cupboard is bare, St. Francis is there," she said.
