Food Pantries

Use of food pantries and homeless shelters has increased sharply around Maryland in the past year despite the state's prosperity, according to an anti-poverty group's survey.Early results of the survey, conducted by the Center for Poverty Solutions in Baltimore, show that Maryland food pantry patrons took home 59 percent more groceries this year than last and that the number of children seeking shelter went up by nearly a quarter.Though both numbers have risen in the annual survey over the past five years, the increases this year are much greater, said Rob Hess, president of the center.

The Anne Arundel County Food Bank is counting on students to help feed the needy as they embark on the annual Harvest for the Hungry "Kids Helping Kids" campaign.The goal is tons upon tons of food -- perhaps more than the 43,000 pounds brought in last year as 40 county schools joined in the three-week fall campaign. Statewide, a 213-school effort harvested 147,000 pounds of food to help needy families across Maryland."We come out of the summer months pretty well drained of food," said Bruce Michalec, director of the county food bank, "so [this]

Yvonne Brown has come so far -- from sunken-cheeked addict to teacher's assistant, from drawing government checks to making her own money and her own way.Yet there she was, leaning over the counter of the food pantry at the Bethel Outreach Center in West Baltimore this week, waiting as emergency services director Georgia Crawford filled plastic bags with frozen salmon and peanut butter, dried milk and canned corn, spaghetti and bread."

A sharp drop in the food stamp rolls -- at the same time hungry people are showing up in larger numbers at the nation's food pantries -- has puzzled national and state officials trying to combat the trend."

The U.S. Postal Service Harvest for the Hungry food drive in Maryland has collected more than 100,000 pounds of food in this year's campaign that ended March 24, double its 50,000-pound goal.Bill Ewing, executive director of the Maryland Food Bank, said yesterday that the annual drive, in which postal workers pick up goods from their mail customers, has collected more than $30 million worth of food since it began 12 years ago.Food banks will distribute the goods to soup kitchens, food pantries and emergency shelters.

THE PHRASE HEARD in Washington from both political parties a few years back was the need to "reform welfare, as we know it." We never heard the rallying cry, "If people go hungry, big deal."Thus, a proposal in Annapolis to create an Emergency Food Program.Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat and one of three sponsors of House Bill 350, said he's seeking $2 million for fiscal 1999, which would augment private giving.It's a drop in the bucket that the governor and state legislature should support.

Many of the unemployed and working poor are hungry and outside the mainstream, but not necessarily homeless, the Maryland Food Bank said yesterday.As part of a 1997 national study released yesterday, the bank interviewed at random 395 people statewide using emergency food providers it served. It also received 269 questionnaires filled out by the food pantries, shelters and food kitchens.Among key findings about the Maryland hungry:76 percent of the unemployed clients were seeking employment.

IT IS a sad fact of life in modern America that groups such as the Maryland Food Bank serve an essential role seeing that available food gets to hungry people.A survey by Second Harvest, a national network of 185 food banks, indicates that even with a strong economy, food banks are needed more than ever. It suggests hunger could become an even bigger and more visible problem if welfare reform begins to eliminate people from the rolls before they are financially self-sufficient, or if the economy slumps badly.

Maryland's food pantries, homeless shelters and soup kitchens experienced a 23 percent increase in visits from families with children in the past year according to a survey to be released today by the Center for Poverty Solutions.The study, based on 1998 information mailed in by the staffs of 191 emergency providers throughout the state, also found that 26 percent more senior citizens used food pantries for donations.It concludes that rates of unemployment combined with fewer people receiving public assistance has had a "serious impact" upon food pantry and soup kitchen use."

CONGRESS HAS so far made only minor restorations in its severe cuts in food stamps and other nutrition programs imposed as part of last year's welfare reform legislation. As a result, more people will be seeking the services of food banks in Maryland and elsewhere. Already, these groups are seeing increased demand, which they are not able to meet.According to a nationwide study by the Tufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy, the cuts will lead to an unprecedented decrease in the amount of food available to hungry Americans, and private food banks and other charitable agencies won't be able to to fill the gap. The Maryland Food Bank, Maryland's largest anti-hunger advocacy organization, handed out some 12 million pounds of food in 1996.

In the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, it's relatively easy to spot the youngsters suffering from malnutrition. They're the ones with the glassy eyes, toothpick arms and legs, and rags for clothing. But in Baltimore, hunger presents a different face: an overweight adolescent in T-shirt and jeans, or a sickly infant who turns up repeatedly in hospital emergency rooms. City health officials are taking the problem of malnutrition seriously, as food and fuel prices soar and more families lose homes and jobs.

Nearly one in eight families taking children to the University of Maryland Medical Center's emergency room and primary care clinic lack enough food to ensure good nutrition - putting the youngsters at risk for growth and learning problems, a study has found. Acting on the finding, the city health department yesterday announced a plan to screen children for signs of hunger and to link families to food pantries and federal nutrition programs such as food stamps and Women Infants and Children.

Imagine having only an average of $3 a day - or $1 per meal - to feed yourself. Food stamp recipients don't have to imagine it; that's roughly the daily benefit each person on the program receives. Congress can and should do better as it nears a final compromise agreement on the massive farm bill that's been in negotiations for months. Any desired increase won't end the need to deal with hunger in the nation and in Maryland, but it would certainly help. Reports released last year found that 12.65 million American households were "food insecure" in 2006 (up from 12.59 million in 2005)

WORLD Casualties of war The toll of Iraqi civilians has mounted steadily in the country's unremitting violence and now takes an average of 120 lives each day, the United Nations reported in its bleakest assessment of noncombatant casualties since the U.S.-led invasion. October's toll of at least 3,709 civilian deaths was the highest so far. pg 1a NATIONAL Food pantries feed a need Food pantries are the most visible and accessible answer for many of the estimated 35 million Americans the U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies as food insecure.

Bill Ewing was unemployed and living in his Volkswagen van on April Fools' Day 1979 when his aunt dragged him to a celebration marking the start of a new charity, the Maryland Food Bank. Ewing, who had recently left his job as a teacher, was looking for something to do. The first food banks had just started popping up around the country, and the concept behind them - bringing food from big producers to small food pantries - intrigued him. He decided to volunteer for a few weeks. Now, Ewing is preparing to step down as executive director of the nonprofit organization.

In Baltimore City Two men die in unrelated shootings in city Homicide detectives were investigating the fatal shooting last night of an unidentified man on the city's west side. Police were unable to say immediately the name or even age of the victim, who died at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center and became the city's 200th homicide victim for this year. They said the shooting was reported about 9:45 p.m. in the 800 block of W. Fayette St., but had no details by early today. Meanwhile, police also were investigating a fatal shooting late Monday outside a Northwest Baltimore drugstore.

After several disappointing years, the Maryland Food Bank reported a hefty boost in donations of canned and nonperishable goods during its 2003 holiday drive season - although officials said the increase will be used up quickly by people who need it. A "Stuff-a-Bus" drive conducted last month took in 85,591 pounds of food for the bank, which serves 900 soup kitchens and food pantries around the state. That take was 50 percent greater than the 56,990 pounds collected last year. The Ravens Family Food & Funds Drive brought in 15,604 pounds, compared with 13,158 last year and 4,179 the year before that.

Giant extends drive to help stock food pantries Hoping to meet increasing demands at area food banks, Giant Food Inc. is extending its annual "Good Neighbor Food and Funds" campaign through the end of this month. The campaign was to end Dec. 31, but will run until Jan. 31 to benefit food pantries and soup kitchens, some of which reported in a recent survey that they are serving more families than ever. People can participate by donating nonperishable food or cash at participating Giant or Super G stores.

A COMEDIC adaptation of Cinderella hits the stage this weekend at Northeast High School Eagles Auditorium as the Dionysus Drama Club presents its fall production of Billy St. John's Cindy Ella's Going to the Ball, Baby! Curtain times are at 7 p.m. today and tomorrow with a matinee at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Admission is $5. In this fractured fairy tale, poor Cindy wants to go to her senior prom at Castle Hill High and dance with the irresistible Joe, the object of Cindy's unrequited love. Our heroine's wicked stepmother and stepsisters do everything possible to discourage the teen-ager's attempts until a fairy godmother with an attitude and her crew of miracle workers show up to save the day. At the prom, Cindy finds love, not with Joe the cutie, but his best friend, Buddy.

The U.S. Postal Service's Harvest for the Hungry food drive in Maryland collected 100,000 pounds of food in this year's campaign that ended March 31, five times the amount collected by its original deadline a week earlier. Bill Ewing, executive director of the Maryland Food Bank, credited postal workers who picked up goods from their mail customers and volunteer students who went door-to-door in some neighborhoods for the drive's success. The annual campaign to alleviate hunger across the state, in its 14th year, collected enough food for 80,000 meals.