The Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank in Salem has seen a 60 percent increase in the number of clients it serves annually over the past four years. That’s according to a new study done by the Food Bank in connection with Feeding America. “Hunger in America 2010” states that more than 201,000 people (including 66,561 children) receive emergency food assistance each year from the Food Bank.
Food Bank spokesman Jeremy Butterfield says the study is done every four years “to get a really in depth look at not only the number of people that we’re serving but also who they are and what their make-up is and their status and what brought them here to be seeking emergency food assistance.”
The last study was done in 2006, just before the recession started. The Food Bank and its partner agencies have seen more clients in the past several years and “this study really just kind of backs up what we’ve been seeing on the ground.”
Butterfield says there’s no “typical” client at the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank, but most are white and most are employed, at least part time. Nearly half have unpaid medical or hospital bills or don’t have access to health insurance. According to the report, 27 percent of clients have had to choose between paying their rent or mortgage and buying food. “The people that we see are folks who are trying to make it, who are working hard to try to make it, but they just need a little more help.”
The Food Bank has been working to meet the extra need by calling on the community for help, and Butterfield says people have responded through increased donations of food, money, and time. “Just within the last year we’ve seen significant increases in pounds [of food] given. We’ve [also] seen significant increases in the number of food drives participated in.” Another huge help, Butterfield says, was the inclusion of one million dollars for food banks in last year’s Virginia budget. “I think the community and legislators are recognizing the fact that there are hungry people and that we all need to work together to solve this crisis.”
Now that the study has been released, Butterfield says he and other Food Bank employees will analyze it and try to increase the distribution, along with the local community’s participation. In addition, the Food Bank is going to explore how it can expand services to the rural region of its service territory. “Often times in the rural areas, there’s a high population of unemployed, but there may only be one or two pantries that serve a wide area because it is so rural. We’re going to look into direct distributions …we’re going to look into the encouragement of new pantries.”
By Beverly Amsler [email protected]