NOTE: I just posted this to GD; please feel free to add the name/info of any pantries in your area in need of donations.
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Below is a short list of food pantries across the country which have recently put out calls for donations of food. Note, this is just a tiny, tiny sampling because there are literally thousands of centers for the hungry and homeless which need our help. Many are in crisis due to lack of donations. I'm presenting this small sampling because I want to remind people that hunger is a NATIONAL problem in America. It's in YOUR town, YOUR state, YOUR country. Won't you please consider contacting an organization in your area which serves the homeless and/or hungry? Summer is an especially critical time for many of these organizations.
Thank you! Oh -- and please feel free to add to this list if your area food pantry is in need!
Little Rock, ARKANSAS
Donations Are Low at The Little Rock Compassion Center
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0706/347437.html Tuesday July 25, 2006 8:29pm Reporter: Anne Pressly Posted By: Talisa Austin
Little Rock -
You may have given to your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen around Christmas time. Now that it's July and one organization says donations are down considerably.
As a result they desperately need your help now more than ever feeding the hungry. The food pantry at the Compassion Center is not empty. The Operations Manager told Channel Seven earlier Tuesday that the food they have isn’t enough. Hundreds of people depend on the organization as their only source of a hot meal.
The dining room at the Little Rock Compassion Center is always full. But filling the plates of the hungry has become increasingly difficult in the past several months because more people are in need.... MORE
Raleigh and Wilson, NORTH CAROLINA:
N.C. Food Pantries' Stocks In Summer Slump
http://www.wral.com/news/9596137/detail.html POSTED: 10:57 pm EDT July 29, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- On Wednesdays, more than 150 people migrate to the Milagros y Maravillas, or Miracles and Blessings, food pantry in Selma. Some come on foot or bicycle, others hitch rides or drive with family members from neighboring towns.
"Sometimes you're sitting here 30 minutes, sometimes you're here four hours, and it's depressing," said Kenly resident Kim Whitley, 45, as she waited in stifling heat for an N.C. Food Bank truck to arrive.
The plight of Whitley and others who need help putting food on the table often gets overlooked during the carefree summer months. For the Triangle's numerous food pantries, this has real consequences.
"We refer to it as the summer slump," said Ernie Mills, executive director of the Durham Rescue Mission. "In the summer, our shelves run bare."
(snipping)
"Summer is the worst time in terms of getting our donations of food," said Joyce Cooper, president of Garner Area Ministries. Like Mills, Cooper recently sent a letter to the more than 20 Garner area churches letting them know that the ministry's shelves were in need of restocking.
Several factors contribute to the summer slump. Fewer food drives are held during the summer, and those that do occur tend to be less successful than those held around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Summer also means fewer children are receiving free meals at school.... MORE
http://rdu.news14.com/content/your_news/goldsborowilson... Food pantries need summer donations
Updated: 7/10/2006 6:28 PM
By: Heather Moore
WILSON, N.C. -- Fewer people donate to area food pantries during the summertime compared to other times of the year. That leaves the shelves empty and shelters scrambling to find enough food to help people in need.
Wilson’s Hope Station gives away food three days a week. Monday, nearly 60 families lined up for groceries to help them get through the month.
Wilson resident Carl Richards got enough food for himself, his fiancé, and his four-month old daughter, China.
“If we didn't come here, we would be without,” Richards said. “This is a low-paying area,” he added. “People really can't make it on what money they do make.”
Wilson has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. That means there's a big need for assistance, like the food pantry, but this time of year, the shelves are often empty....
Syracuse, NEW YORK
http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/ba... There is a long list of agencies needing donations, but one in particular is in desperate need: ST. ALPHONSUS FOOD PANTRY Address: 10 Lewis St., Auburn Schedule/service: 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Monday to Saturday; monthly interval if available (or emergency). Response to message within 24 hours. Telephone: 252-0710 Needs: "We are in desperate need of food for our pantry. All items are appreciated, especially diapers and women's personal products."
Austin, TEXAS
Capital Area Food Bank In Need Of Donations
http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_207172229.html July 26, 2006
Julie Simon reporting
(CBS 42) AUSTIN The folks over at the Capital Area Food Bank are making a passionate plea for help.
They are worried that their needs have jumped 25 percent, but donations have stayed flat.
The executive director of the food bank is very nervous when he sees empty shelves. He wants them completely full because there are thousands of people who rely on the food bank for their next meal.
(snipping)
Over the last six months, demand in Travis County has gone up 15 percent. In Williamson County, it's up 42 percent. In rural Gillespie County that number is 60 percent.
Michael Guerra, with the Capital Area Food Bank, says the demand goes up in the summertime.
“The kids aren't in school, maybe getting some lunches and breakfasts at school so when we see empty shelves it's a concern,” Guerra said.
He adds there's no greater feeling than helping the needy.
(snipping)
CBS 42 is helping out with a food drive. The drive begins Aug. 7 and runs through the Aug. 13. Donations can be made at any Austin area Randall’s grocery stores.
Berlin, CONNECTICUT
Food pantry seeking extra donations
http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16... By: Jason Pheasant
07/29/2006
BERLIN - As many people prepare for their summer vacations, it may be easy to forget those who can't afford to get away, let alone buy groceries for themselves and their families.
According to Antoinette Pajor, community service director for the town of Berlin, the amount of food available for families during the summer months slows down, while the demand rises.
"The demand increases during the summer because many of the families have children and they aren't getting lunch like they would be able to if they were in school," she said.
The town has been helping less fortunate families by participating in the food pantry for over the past 25 years. Currently there are more than 40 registered families who actively use the pantry as a means for food supply. The numbers fluctuate depending on the given month.
Many of the resources the town uses for donations such as various churches, outside organizations and schools run on the same seasonal schedule, and therefore during June, July and August they are off... MORE
(Note: The following article was published in November of 2005 and things are only getting worse.)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10131147 /
Food bank donations down sharply
Officials fear ‘donor fatigue’ in year plagued by disasters domestic, abroad
By Michael E. Ross
Reporter
MSNBC
Updated: 9:59 a.m. CT Nov 24, 2005
Some of the nation’s bigger food charities and food banks are reporting that donations have continued long-standing declines, decreases that may well continue through the holidays.
Officials at the charities fear that “donor fatigue” may have set in, with people’s charitable instincts stretched to the limit in a year of an uncommon number of weather-related tragedies.
At food charities in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and Milwaukee, donations are down in large measure because of the one-two punch of serial disasters at home and abroad....
(snipping)
Less food, more people who need it
Those dire situations have a parallel in America's growing food needs. An October report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 2004 was the fifth consecutive year in which the number of Americans in households at risk of hunger increased. The number of people living in what the USDA calls “food-insecure” households rose to 38.2 million last year, including 13.8 million children.
Food-bank officials say the problem's only gotten worse since then. The effect has been the worst of scenarios: a decrease in food donations and an increase in the number of people who need them.... MORE
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