2011年10月18日 星期二

Hunger spreads in suburbia

Food pantries, which traditionally have helped feed poor families in Columbus and in rural Appalachian Ohio, are increasingly opening and expanding in the suburbs.

“ Clearly, this economy, and the lack of jobs, has driven people to food pantries who never used them before,” said Matt Habash, president and chief executive officer of the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,

The suburbs show the fastest-growing need for food assistance in the 20-county area served by the foodbank, Habash said.

The Pickerington Food Pantry plans to move into larger accommodations next month. Volunteers said it comes at the right time.

More families are visiting the pantry run by the Pickerington Christian Ministerial Association.Save on Bedding and fittings, To date this year, 878 families have visited at least once, compared with 701 in the same period last year,Traditional Cold Sore claim to clean all the air in a room. about a 25 percent increase. Households are allowed one visit per month.

The suburban pantries are being used more by families who didn’t need help before. Some people who used to donate food or money to their local pantry now are lining up for food from the same pantry, suburban pantry volunteers report.

There is even informal talk of opening a food pantry in New Albany that would work with the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

“It surprises people when you say New Albany,” Habash said. Beyond the big Georgian homes, however, lie modest households reeling from the same economic punches felt in other communities, he said.

The foodbank has a number of factors it considers before deciding to work with a new pantry. Among them: local need,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . distance to other pantries and organizational viability, including money, volunteers and willingness to take food-safety training, Habash said.

At the Dublin Food Pantry, which serves more than 200 families monthly — more than half of them elderly — eight to 12 visitors a month used to be new faces. This year, the pantry has consistently seen 25 to 30 new families each month, said Executive Director Linda A. Fisher.

The Hilliard Community Assistance Council’s pantry served 704 families last year. Monthly numbers this year are running about 30 percent higher.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop . “You can feel the impact of the economy,” said council board member Tracy Bradford. “People are in need from all walks of life.”

Some families who had two incomes now live on one because of job loss. Others earn less because of reduced hours and wages, or after an illness or divorce. The bills for the mortgage and utilities, gasoline, medical care and children’s clothing and school supplies still have to be paid.

“Food is one of the most fungible parts of someone’s budget. You cannot not pay the bank, but you can choose to go hungry,” said Debra Gray Boyd, executive director of the Worthington Food Pantry and Resource Center. The pantry serves 300 families monthly, up from 20 families when it opened in 2009, and moved into larger space last year, she said.

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