Economy taking toll on food pantries

A new wave of arrivals is landing on the doorstep of area food pantries: those recently laid off from work.

Couple that with the ever-increasing numbers of people needing help who are considered underemployed and requests at area pantries are up an average about 20 percent this year, officials say.

"It's primarily people who have lost their jobs - and it's not just young families," said Marilyn Mack, president of FISH food pantry in Carpentersville.

For example, from May to June alone, FISH saw an increase from 350 to 365 families.

With the prices of gas, food and energy jumping significantly this past year, families have been hit particularly hard, said Dennis Smith, executive director of the Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles.

"We get a lot of - regular people who are what you call underemployed," said Julie Villarreal, director of general assistance for the Elk Grove Township food pantry. "They tell us 'Gas prices are so high, I had to use my grocery money to fill my tank.'"

In just the past three months, the Arlington Heights-based pantry saw its client load expand by a whopping 83 percent. And that's at a time - over the summer - when traditional dry-good and canned donations tend to decline.

Smith said two agencies that work with the food bank exemplify the problem.

Holy Angels Food Pantry in Aurora normally serves 440 households per month, but in June served more than 500, Smith said. That's not an increase of 60 people; it's an increase in families.

And in Zion, the Faith Food Pantry, which regularly serves 3,500 individuals, saw that double to 7,900 in the past year. It needed to switch its twice-monthly food distribution to a weekly service to meet the increase in demand, he said.

"These two pantries are relatively large, but the pattern is there for almost everyone we work with," Smith said.

Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Naperville is not immune. Its client load is up at least 10 percent this year, Executive Director Charles McLimans said.

"We are serving an average of 1,700 families per year, and each family averages 2.75 people," McLimans said. "We're looking for as many deals as we can. We have to stretch our food dollars."

One advantage pantries do have is that summer provides an otherwise rare commodity - fresh produce. The Daily Herald's Giving Garden program encourages gardeners to drop it off at one of more than 50 participating food pantries and agencies.

"We had some community gardeners bring in fresh lettuce the other day," McLimans said. "We set it out and allowed families to take as much as they needed."

Companies including Trader Joe's, Casey's Foods and Whole Foods also donate fresh produce that's still in good condition, but is past the sell-by date.

"If it looks good, it smells good and tastes good, it is good," McLimans said.