Hunger in America

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By Carrie Antlfinger ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vermont's only food bank is buying a farm. In California, commercial fishing boats donated 260 pounds of rockfish this month. And in Tennessee, groceries that are fine to eat but deemed unmarketable by retailers are being collected and prepared for people in need.

As traditional sources of donations dry up and demand rises amid a worsening recession, food banks and their volunteers are finding creative ways to make the best of a growing challenge, while the hungry try to make less food go further.

"[Hunger] has been a persistent problem but it's radically gotten worse in the last year since the economy has tanked," said Ross Fraser, a spokesman for Feeding America, formerly Second Harvest.

The number of people going to Feeding America's food banks nationwide increased 18 percent between 1997 and 2005 to more than 25 million. A more recent figure was not available.

The nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America said some distribution centers in California, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio recently reported a 30 percent to 40 percent surge in demand from a year ago, Mr. Fraser said.

But supply is not keeping pace.

Over the past decade, food banks have seen a steady drop in donated packaged food from manufacturers and grocery stores - historically their biggest givers - in part because industry has become better at forecasting consumer demand. The trend has been compounded by recession and higher food costs, prompting supermarkets to get more aggressive about selling any surpluses to low-cost food stores and other secondary markets.

Of course, today's hunger problem isn't nearly as bad as during the Great Depression, an era that is often invoked when experts talk about the magnitude of the country's current financial crisis. Those who are hungry in America today have a safety net in food banks, soup kitchens and a federal food stamp program, said John Bellamy Foster, a sociology professor at the University of Oregon.

"We have these programs in place that didn't exist in the 1930s and [they] will help a lot," he said.

Some corporations have recently come forward to help, including grocers and food manufacturers, whose assistance these days comes in the form of money and transportation services. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. last month said it would donate more meat and dairy products, plus $2.5 million, while Kraft Foods Inc. will fund a $4.5 million mobile pantry program.