Demand is up 30 to 40 percent at St. Jude's Food Pantry in Londonderry. It's up about 20 percent at St. Anne's Ecumenical Food Pantry in Hampstead. Some of the 409 agencies registered with the New Hampshire Food Bank are reporting an increased need as high as 50 percent.
The impact of the sluggish economy is hitting area food pantries — and hitting them hard. And that's just before cold weather sets in and the holiday season bears down.
"Things changed early last fall, with a lot more people coming in. We have a number of volunteers here and they were saying a lot of people who had never come to the food pantry started coming in the last couple of months," said Joe Farren, self-described chief cook and bottle washer at the Plaistow Community Food Pantry. "Overall, the food pantry here probably helps between 130 and 180 people a month."
The food pantry, based out of Holy Angels at 8 Atkinson Depot Road, has been around for about 30 years. Farren and his wife, Marie, run the show — with a lot of help.
The community has been generous, Farren said, a sentiment echoed by volunteers at other pantries around the county. But donations simply aren't keeping up with the growing demand.
It's the only food pantry serving Plaistow and Atkinson, and it's funded solely by donations.
"The food pantry has been very lucky to be able to help so many," Farren said. "The strength we have is because of our volunteers. We're able to help so many because of the caring and compassion of our benefactors."
But compassion alone isn't enough. Situations change and longtime donors can find themselves unable to give, or at least not as much as they have in the past.
"Right now, we certainly could use monetary donations, as well as anything else," Farren said.
In addition to distributing food three days a week year round, the pantry provides holiday dinner baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the need is greater at this time of year.
"We can only provide people with help when people provide the food pantry," Farren said. "That's the way it works."
Asked what the Plaistow pantry's greatest need is right now, Farren was blunt.
"For organizations to get involved and for businesses to get involved," he said. "Organize a food drive for the pantry."
Supplies are low even before holidays begin
The Danville Food Pantry could use one, too.
"It's pretty empty," said Doreen Moore, town clerk and welfare administrator. "We're such a small one, and we've been busy this past year. Basically, we're waiting to restock for Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets."
That means Moore hopes to fill the shelves with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pie filling, potatoes, squash. And then there are the turkeys.
"We have a number of people who usually donate turkeys, so we're lucky in that respect," Moore said.
The Food for the Hungry Food Pantry in Salem is lucky when it comes to turkeys, too, according to coordinator Sally Perkins.
On Nov. 9, Campbell's Scottish Highland Golf Course donates the day to the Salem pantry. Any golfer who brings in a frozen turkey weighing at least 12 pounds (or a $20 grocery gift card) gets nine holes of golf.
"We get donations from all kinds of sources," Perkins said.
Salem contractors just donated to all Salem food pantries. The pantry gets bread from BJ's, Mike's Red Barn, Shaw's and Panera. The Peters Farm Stand gives them fresh produce in season.
Right now, the Salem pantry needs volunteers. The Boy Scouts are doing a food drive this month and the pantry needs help sorting that food and getting the 80 Thanksgiving baskets ready, Perkins said.
Pantries registered with the New Hampshire Food Bank that don't get turkey donations can get free birds from the Food Bank.
Development associate Beth Froehlich said the bank has 409 agencies registered, up from 385 last year. If a pantry is registered, workers can buy food at the NH Food Bank for 18 cents a pound. But turkeys, thanks in large part to Hannaford's Tons of Turkeys promotion later this month, are free to registered agencies, she said.
"To date, we are currently up 12 percent in our distribution," Froehlich said. "The need is that much greater across the board. They are struggling to keep up with the demand."
New faces, older faces among the needy
That's not news to Ellen Faulconer, assistant director of the Kingston Food Pantry.
"My concern is we already have requests for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it really concerns me all the requests are from new people," Faulconer said Thursday. "Last year we saw a tremendous increase over the year before. The food pantry already is really, really low. There's been a tremendous increase in the amount of people who need food."
Among those new faces, Faulconer said, are many older residents — and that tells her how great the need is.
"Unfortunately, one of the largest increases is in the elderly," she said. "It's gotten to the point where they're finally coming in. Seniors traditionally won't. The fact that they are, I find really very telling — and sad."
Previously, Faulconer said, she would have cases of soup on hand. Thursday she had just 12 cans. The same goes for corn. Whereas the pantry always kept cases of corn on hand, the vegetable's spot on the shelf is now half full.
But the townspeople have always been generous, "above the call of duty," Faulconer said, so she's hopeful the shelves will soon fill up with soup, tuna, vegetables, toiletries and paper products.
The communities served by St. Anne Ecumenical Food Pantry in Hampstead are supportive, too.
In the midst of distribution Thursday coordinator Fran Rosenau was full of praise for the support the pantry gets from residents and several church congregations.
"Our need is up about 20 percent, but, fortunately, we have a very supportive community and our donations are coming in steadily," Rosenau.
That generosity is supplemented by USDA commodities every other month. The federal Emergency Food Assistance Program provides food to pantries and soup kitchens across the country.
For fiscal year 2009, Congress appropriated $250 million to purchase food. An additional $100 million was added through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
But Rosenau acknowledged the pantry could use more donations, especially to prepare Thanksgiving baskets for more than 100 families. Those needs include grocery gift cards, traditional holiday meal ingredients, toiletries and paper products.
"We are always in need of toiletries," she said.
It often comes down to cash
All the food pantry officials said donations of cash or grocery store gift cards are always needed. People shopping with food stamps can't buy detergent, soap, diapers, baby formula or toilet paper without cash or a gift card.
"In terms of food inventory, it's holding fairly well because members of the parish are very generous in bringing food in," said the Rev. Bob Couto of the Albert S. Tremblay Sr. Food Pantry at St. Jude's Parish in Londonderry.
School groups, neighborhoods, Boy Scouts and over-55 developments often hold food drives to fill the pantry shelves.
"Where we need some assistance is in grocery gift cards," Couto said. "We're running very low on those."
He said demand is definitely up and he's seeing a lot of people who have lost their jobs, sometimes both spouses.
"This town is really wonderful, it's an extraordinarily generous community," Couto said. "But the needs are more evident this year."
That's true in Sandown, too, where longtime food pantry coordinator Eleanor Bassett hopes to stock the shelves with the ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal.
But Bassett also needs everyday items — snacks, coffee, peanut butter, crackers and paper goods.
"This is the time of year when people are feeling generous," Farren of the Holy Angels Food Pantry in Plaistow said.
Food pantry volunteers throughout the county hope so and that donors don't want until the holidays are here before giving.
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Want to help?
Officials at food pantries mentioned above all are seeking monetary and grocery gift card donations, in addition to food items.
Danville: Danville Food Pantry, P.O. Box 1, Danville, 03819.
Hampstead: St. Anne's Ecumenical Food Pantry, 26 Emerson Ave., Hampstead, 03841.
Londonderry: St. Jude's Food Pantry, 435 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, 03053.
Plaistow: Plaistow Community Food Pantry, Holy Angels Parish, 8 Atkinson Depot Road, Plaistow, 03865.
Salem: Food for the Hungry Food Pantry, Pleasant Street United Methodist Church, 8 Pleasant St., Salem, 03079.
Sandown: Sandown Food Pantry, P.O. Box 5, Sandown, 03873.
This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of food pantries in Southern New Hampshire. For other pantries, check the town Web site or contact the town welfare office.
