Food Bank Experiencing Worst Shortage Ever
Number Of People Seeking Assistance Doubled
WINSTON-SALEM — A year ago, only one in 14 families relied on food from the Second Harvest Food Bank. That number has doubled to one in seven — an increase that has food bank leaders saying the organization is experiencing its worst food shortage ever.
Leaders at the Second Harvest Food Bank say their shelves are almost bare. More
“I have never seen the food supply as low as it is,” said Second Harvest spokesman Clyde Fitzgerald. “Demand for food assistance has been up a consistent 75 percent, and it has been month after month after month versus last year.”
Second Harvest gets its supplies from donations and from government funding. With the state budget tied up in the North Carolina legislature, the organization said it isn’t getting the state funding it expects each summer. The fact that donations are less anyway during the summer coupled with the presence of a recession that is exacerbating the problem, and you have the worst shortage in the history of the organization, leaders say.
“The amount of food coming in to us has virtually come to a halt,” Fitzgerald said. That shortage leads to a trickle-down effect at the 400 local pantries that depend on Second Harvest for supplies.
Cathedral of His Glory church in Greensboro is one of those organizations that used to rely on the food bank for food to give to parishioners.
“It’s not worth coming for a bag of beans and, what else — another can of black beans? Basically. It’s not worth coming,” said Deborah Causey, who helps organize the food ministry at the church.
Causey said the church used to conduct food giveaways on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but they’ve had to cut back to only one time a week. And now they ask people in need of food to call first to make sure there is enough supply.
http://www.wxii12.com/news/20141704/detail.html
Europe on The Brink - Thoughts From The Frontline
lot of bad news as usual//
“I have never seen the food supply as low as it is,” said Second Harvest spokesman Clyde Fitzgerald. “Demand for food assistance has been up a consistent 75 percent, and it has been month after month after month versus last year.”<<<
Yes, this is what I am hearing in the west.
But hopefully that will turn around, for a couple of the big casinos in Las Vegas are rehiring.........500 jobs at one.
My area is called “a bedroom community for Laughlin, Nevada”, less than 20 miles away.