Food banks face shortage

A hunger crisis looms over Bloomington, officials warn.\nFood donations have held constant, but local pantries have seen a surge in demand. Most nonprofits can even claim a tepid increase in giving, but it has failed to keep pace.\n"Our shelves are bare," said Leah Sinn, a caseworker with the Salvation Army. "It's pretty pathetic."\nMany working families stand a single unexpected hospital bill or auto mechanic visit away from an inability to make ends meet. Food pantries lend them a helping hand through rough patches.\nBut donated supplies fall short of a demand that has risen sharply over the past few years.\nSince 2004, Monroe County United Ministries has seen a 72 percent increase in families requesting food assistance, according to internal record-keeping. Mother Hubbard's Cupboard has witnessed a 60 percent spike over the same period.\nUnited Ministries, a secular nonprofit organization, has been forced to take drastic measures. It long provided three meals a day per family member for five days, and it can now muster only three days of assistance.\n"We're afraid of running out or being unable to provide nutritionally complete meals," said Rebecca Stanze, development coordinator of United Ministries. "It's extremely worrisome."\nMany well-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared from Bloomington in recent years with the closing of the Otis Elevator and General Electric refrigerator plants. Production was outsourced to cheaper labor markets in other countries.\n"Unfortunately, with $8- or $9-an-hour service jobs, people can't put a cushion of savings in the bank," said Julio Alonso, executive director of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. "Working families often face tough choices between utility bills and food and rent."\nA number of other factors contribute to the growing crisis, including an expensive housing market and steep gas prices that throw family budgets off-kilter.\n"Unfortunately, donating is a short-term solution," Alonso said. "In the long term, we need to bring in jobs and create educational opportunities."\nHoosier Hills, which gathers donated food to distribute to local pantries, notched a small victory in May. It brought in 3,000 lbs. more in canned goods than in 2005 during its annual Letter Carrier Food Drive, in which people leave donations for the postal worker to pick up. But it did not make much of a dent in the dramatic upswing of requested assistance.\n"The community has been generous," Alonso said. "But many of our community agencies have come to us and indicated that they're under a tight squeeze."\nAlonso has cause for concern, as donations typically drop off during the summer months. Need inversely rises during the summer, when many children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school are cut loose.\n"Psychologically, people think of giving more when it's cold, particularly during the holidays," he said. "But the summer is often busier. If anything, we need more food, not less."\nHoosier Hills' largest client, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, which services 1,200 clients a week, relies heavily on corporate donors. Supermarkets such as Kroger and Marsh give their overstock, which is channeled to needy families.\nBut they've also felt the pinch. They've been forced to schedule an additional weekly delivery from Hoosier Hills to keep up with demand.\n"There are fewer adequately paying jobs and so much underemployment," Director Libby Yarnelle said. "Without padding, you're often one paycheck away from needing help or worse."\nYarnelle doesn't hesitate to label it a crisis.\n"When anyone is hungry, it's a crisis," she said. "When children go hungry, it's a crisis. It's a basic need -- it doesn't get more basic than food."\nFor more information on donating, contact Hoosier Hills Food Bank at 334-8374 or Monroe County United Ministries at 339-3429.