Hunger increasing in central N.J.
Despite trends, local food bank in O.B.
sees normal usage
By charles W. kim
Staff Writer
More Central New Jersey residents may be going hungry this year, according to regional food distribution outlets.
"The demand is up," Barbara Taylor, office manager of Elijah’s Promise Food Kitchen, New Brunswick, said Tuesday.
According to Taylor, the facility provides two nutritious meals a day to between 150-190 patrons at each meal.
"It is not just soup and a sandwich," Taylor said.
The kitchen, which started in 1989, provided as many as 4,000 meals in one month recently.
"It is very high," Taylor said.
Among those being served, Taylor said, are more people from working middle-class families.
"We get a wide variety of people. Some families have two jobs but can’t make it," Taylor said. "They can’t afford food."
Taylor said that demand has risen sharply since she started work at the kitchen in 1996.
South Brunswick Township Welfare Director Lou Anne Wolf said Monday that the demand for assistance is rising there as well.
"It appears to me that it has increased," Wolf said Monday.
The department runs the town’s food pantry and is hoping to get donations of food to fill the shelves.
"Our food pantry is empty," Wolf said.
Wolf said the department assisted about 202 families with food in 2001. That number is now 136 families being assisted so far this year.
"We are up from last year," Wolf said.
That amounts to being on track for about a 10-percent increase in demand compared to last year.
"Demand has risen since 1999," Wolf said, noting that the numbers have grown each year.
Wolf said that many of those needing assistance come in regularly because they have been unemployed for a while or are living paycheck to paycheck.
"We have people that can’t make ends meet," Wolf said.
While there are regular patrons, Wolf said that there has been an increase in people that may not have used the service before.
"These are people that need a helping hand through some tough times," Wolf said. "The [husband and wife] both work, but there is just not enough."
Wolf said that many of these people will only use the service once if they need to.
"You usually don’t see them again," Wolf said.
While demand is reportedly increasing in other areas of the state as well, the municipal food bank in Old Bridge has not experienced an increase in users since this time last year, according to Helen Rende, director of that township’s Office on Aging.
"It’s pretty level," said Rende, whose office oversees the food bank in the township’s George J. Bush Senior Center.
Some clients, after attaining gainful employment, no longer need the services of the food bank, Rende said. Others, having lost their jobs or incomes, usually replace them.
Rende said she has not noticed any change in the demographics of the clientele visiting Old Bridge’s food bank.
However, like other areas of the county, donations to the township’s food bank generally decrease during the summer.
"It’s slower, much slower," Rende said. "We do run into this every summer."
A bright spot is that former food bank users often donate to the food bank themselves once they are able to do so, Rende explained.
"We have people that have been on (our services) who give back," Rende said.
Despite monetary support from the township, the food bank usually does take a hit between budget cycles as is the case now, Rende said.
Overall, however, Rende praised the work of her volunteers and noted the community support that keeps the food bank going even during the summer.
"The volunteers and community help tremendously," Rende said.
Presently, shopping carts are set up at key points in the main municipal building and the township library for donations of canned and perishable goods.
Rende asked residents to check the expiration dates and appearance of any food items they are considering donating. At times, the food bank has received dented cans which cannot be distributed.
"If you’re not going to eat it, don’t give it to the food bank," Rende advised.
Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th District) recently toured food distribution outlets in Trenton and Freehold with fellow Rep. Tony P. Hall (D-Ohio).
Holt said during a recent interview that the demand for these food services has risen some 17 percent statewide.
"There are a lot of people here that are struggling," Holt said.
According to Holt, the number of meals increased by 15 percent at a Trenton food kitchen, and a Freehold location rose by 20 percent compared to last year.
"That is up dramatically," Holt said.
Holt said that the struggling economy and loss of local jobs in the wake of Sept. 11 may have contributed to the increases.
"Many have lost their jobs during the last year and are on the lower end of the salary scale," Holt said.
President George Bush nominated Congressman Hall in February as the nation’s ambassador to the United Nations food and agriculture agencies in Rome.
Hall, whose nomination was confirmed by the Senate Aug. 1, said that in his home state of Ohio, things are even worse, and that about one-third of those hungry are children.
"I suspect this is what is going on around the country," Hall said.
Holt’s GOP opponent, the Rev. Deforest "Buster" Soaries, said that he has also seen the demand for food increase in the region.
"There is an increase in hunger, and an increased need for better nutrition," Soaries said.
Soaries, who was secretary of state under former Gov. Christine Whitman, is challenging Holt for the seat in the 12th District.
Soaries is also the pastor of the 6,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, Franklin.
"I want to provide leadership on this issue," Soaries said.
Soaries said that one of the problems is the breakdown of access for people to various programs like food stamps.
"It is bad to be hungry. It is worse to not have access [to food programs]," Soaries said.
Soaries said that some of the programs must be updated to increase the capacity for families to buy more food.
"There are people’s incomes that have been lost," Soaries said.