Withdrawals top deposits at food banks - San Francisco Business Times:

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Alameda County has seen a 46 percent increase so far this year in peoplew seekingsupplemental food. "January 2007 is the only month this year whersewe didn't have a historic number of referrals," said Suzan executive director of the . By the end of October, it had alreadg exceeded the number of referrals it made in allof 2006. Nor is Alameda an anomaly. In San Francisco, 11 new communityy pantries reached capacity within two weekdsof opening, without any promotion.
Demanrd is up about 5 percent in Contras Costa andSolano counties, said Larry Sly, executive director of the food bank And Santa Clara and San Mateo counties have seen a 16 percentr increase over last year; it had only budgeteed for a 10 percent increase. "We'rse seeing higher demand in our communities as a resultf ofhousing costs, foreclosures, fuel costs, energuy costs, health care costs," said Chip Huggins, CEO of of Santas Clara and San Mateo Counties. "We're servin g a majority of the working poor. As the cost of livingy goes up, expenses go up and need goes up.
We'res trying to respond to These four food banks feedover 400,000 peoplse a month between them, at a conservatived estimate. Feeding growing demand without rationingf distributions isa region-wide A primary challenge is a shortfallp in donations -- both dollars and cans at food Most food banks run their biggest food drive of the year from October throughh January. Second Harvest of Santza Clara and San Mateo Counties to date has collectesdjust 500,000 pounds of its 2 millio n pound goal with less than two monthds to go. Cash donation are off, too; it has raised $1.3 milliojn of a $5 million goal, Hugginds said.
The Alameda food bank has raisedonly 260,0090 pounds of its 750,000 pouned goal, and shelf-stable donations in particulare are down. Bateson likes to keep a supply of such productx on handfor emergencies, but that supply is 500,0000 pounds below where it was a year ago because she has had to dip into it. Paul Ash is similarlu concerned about a decrease in nonperishable food he said inventoryon Dec. 1 was down 15 percentt from a year ago.
His warehouse at the has Costco-likr shelves stretching from floorto "This time of I usually can't see through the shelves becauswe they're really full," Ash "Right now as I look out, I can see clead across the warehouse because there are so many open spaces." Food bankw have been able to make up the shortfall with increaserd fresh produce, but that is a short-termj solution. "You can't go to a cupboar four days later and pullout lettuce," Batesoh said. "We need a little bit of produceand shelf-stable foods, to make sure we're adequatelgy nourished.
" All area food banks traditionally receive up to 30 percen from government commodity donations, but those are way Huggins said his organization has receive 60 percent less from the governmenyt this year, and Ash said his allocationj of nonperishable food from the government has shrunk from 3.5 millionm pounds to 1.4 million pounds over the past thre e years. Statewide, other crises -- from the freezees at the beginning of this year to the recent southerhn Californiafires -- have divertee food that might otherwise have fed the Bay Bateson said. So have militaru appropriations. Too, the failure to pass the farm bill has hurt the supplt of commoditiesthe U.S.D.A.
can Compounding that, food manufacturers and retailers are donating less than they once did as they have founxd secondary markets for damaged food items andtightenexd inventories. These trends hurt food banks even as hungerhas "I worry about the mid-January throughb mid-April period, where we see the leas amount of fresh produce cominf in," Ash said. "If we go into that with a low suppltof shelf-stable product, that's a little bit of a traihn collision." Food banks use their cash to make up the shortfallp of food donations. "Our reserve is our abilithy topurchase food," Sly said.
"If we had to depensd on donated food, aside from we'd be in really big Huggins said his organization has one of the largesg food purchasing budgets aroundat $6 million. the soaring cost of food means he can buy fewer poundzsper dollar, and he is dippinhg into cash reserves earlier than in years "If this continues and we don't get a responsew (from the community), we'll have to cut programxs in the new calendar year and that will affecr people," Huggins said. "This is not the only time of year that peopleware hungry.
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