large drop in residents
seeking assistance
Food pantries continue
to report need in area
Summer has not brought
large drop in residents
seeking assistance
By mark rosman & Clare Marie Celano
Staff Writers
The dramatic up-and-down ride of the stock market that is costing some people money, combined with what some local assistance directors perceive to be generally tougher financial times has led to an increase in demand at several local food pantries.
Roseann Polo, director of public assistance in Freehold Township, runs the town’s food pantry, Helping Other People Eat. She said that over the past two months she has seen an increase in the number of people who are showing up and asking for assistance.
Polo said the food pantry is beginning to see an increase among people, or families, where parents were working more than one job to make ends meet. When one parent loses his or her second job — which may have been the source of the family’s food money — the resulting financial squeeze may send that family to the food pantry for assistance, Polo said.
Polo said she has also noticed an increase in the number of senior citizens seeking food assistance this summer.
"June and July have been quite busy for us and that’s unusual," she said, noting that seniors who plant a garden in the summer and use those vegetables might not have seen fruitful results in this drought year. "I’m finding seniors reaching out for food and I’m sure that will continue."
Polo said the town’s appearance may give some people the wrong impression that hunger is not an issue.
"But we do have people who are struggling," she said.
As always, and especially in the summer months when the school and community groups that aid the food pantry are not meeting, donations of food to help keep the food pantry’s shelves stocked are needed, she said.
On a related note, Polo reported that Freehold Township’s welfare rolls have been increasing. Welfare is defined as assistance provided to people between the ages of 18 and 65 who do not have dependent children.
"I’m finding an increase in the number of young people who can’t find work," she said.
At the Samaritan Center on Harrison Street, Englishtown, Director Carol Puorro said, "The need for food is steady, including during the summer. We usually see a little down trend for the summer, but not this year. That indicates a change."
The Samaritan Center, which serves Englishtown, Manalapan, Marlboro and the rural western Monmouth County communities of Allentown, Roosevelt and Upper Freehold Township, gives out groceries on a weekly basis, Puorro said.
The center serves a regular group of clients who, for the most part, need assistance all year, the director said. The difference this year is that some people who generally don’t need help in the summer are still coming in.
Once in a while when a large corporation lays off a significant number of employees — some of whom may live locally — the Samaritan Center adds a family to its regular list of clients. Puorro said. That is usually a short-term situation until the person who was laid off gets a new job, she said.
According to Jeanne Yaecker, director of the Open Door food pantry in Freehold Borough, the summer is always tough because resources are normally down.
"Schools are not in session and we depend heavily for our resources on Project EAT, as well as other organizations like the Scouts and houses of worship," Yaecker explained.
"Our shelves are pretty bare right now," she said, explaining that Open Door has had to purchase groceries and perishables such as bread, cheese, meat and produce with funds donated to the organization.
Yaecker said Open Door has seen a marked increase in use.
"We’re seeing people in the same socioeconomic group we usually see, but for the past three months we’ve experienced a 20 percent increase compared to the same three months (May, June and July) of last year."
Open Door services approximately 300 families a month, according to Yaecker, with additional families coming to the pantry for items like bread and produce, sometimes on a daily basis.
She said Open Door provides three to five days worth of food per family once a month, but said people can come in for perishables as often as they need to.
"In some of the cases I see I worry that all they are eating is bread and produce in between," she said.
Open Door also offers an advocacy program which provides a small emergency fund for people who are under political and spiritual will to make changes.
"Most people are not aware that there is hunger in our own back yard," Hall said.
According to Hall, there are between 25 million and 30 million U.S. citizens who are hungry two to four days of every month.
"They are embarrassed. They don’t have a spokesman and the story never gets out. We can end this," Hall said.
Holt’s Republican opponent in the November general election, the Rev. Deforest Soaries, said 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. Christie 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, Somerset County.
"I want to provide leadership on this issue," Soaries said, adding 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, he said.
Soaries said 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," he said.
Greater Media Newspapers staff writer Charles W. Kim contributed to this story.