Give 'til it feels good this season

With all the cutting back we've been doing - forgoing the lattes, eschewing restaurant meals, clipping coupons and not driving to Aunt Joyce's house today for turkey - let's not forget the food pantries and other agencies helping the needy.

We all have to reduce expenses in this economy, but an irony of that is for the needy and the newly needy it's even more important than usual that those who can, give.

These are only creature comforts, after all. Most of us can still brew our own coffee. We can still make our own lunch. And we can call Aunt Joyce and promise to see her at Christmas. She might even understand.

Giving up a few of the conveniences, a few of the extravagances, simply put, can put food in a truly hungry person's belly. And that makes us all feel good, right?

An encouraging sign in a story in Tuesday's Daily Herald is that as stores and food manufacturers tighten up their inventories and, thus, have less to give to food banks, donations from private individuals are either holding steady or on the rise. At Thanksgiving time, that's a good sign.

But as the economy worsens and more people find themselves hurting, it'll only get worse. It already is so in some of our less affluent communities.

In this time of layoffs, we've seen a startling trickle down effect. The Northern Illinois Food Bank, a St. Charles-based organization that warehouses and distributes food to pantries in many collar counties, is reporting a 30 percent increase in demand. The Greater Chicago Food Depository, which also serves suburban Cook County, is seeing a 33 percent increase.

And depending on which local food pantry you talk to, demand is up between 50 percent and 90 percent.

The city of Elgin last week declared a crisis.

The Salvation Army in Elgin launched its largest food drive since the 1960s and is setting up at least 20 spots in and around the city where food can be donated.

Salvation Army Major Ken Nicolai said pantry shelves last week were bare and staffers had to turn away 20 to 30 families seeking assistance.

"As far as food collections, we haven't done anything like we're doing now in at least 40 years," Nicolai told staff writer Harry Hitzeman. "We need large supplies of food. There's a lot of people getting laid off and (work) hours cut. It's a real tough time for people right now. We need as much food as we can right away."

There are plenty of people throughout the suburbs who give their time to stock shelves, pack boxes and serve meals in food banks and soup kitchens. It must be heartbreaking to pack a smaller box for someone in need or, worse, turn someone away.

For these people who volunteer we should be grateful. Now it's up to the rest of us to give them more to do.

Give 'til it feels good.