World

Pantries Squeezed

Jewish food banks hit by "perfect storm."

tern expends approxi-
mately $240 million
annually on food and
nutrition services,
New York
including food pan-
M
tries,
synagogue meal
ET RO
n her 15 years at the Yad Ezra
POLITA
ON
programs
for seniors,
kosher food bank in Berkley,
JEWISH
Meals
on
Wheels
and
ACTS OF CHARITY. DE
Mich., Leah Luger has never
an
emergency
food
seen a situation quite as bad.
O'ivn ni54D
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and shelter program.
Michigan has the highest
Approximately
$60
unemployment rate of any state
MEt
million
of
the
budget
COW? J
in the nation at 7.4 percent, and
comes from govern-
Yad Ezra has seen a 30 percent
ment
sources, he said.
increase in demand over the past ow
In
May,
Congress
two years. With food costs soar-
T r- 7.
voted
to
override
ing, Michigan's only kosher food
President Bush's
bank is struggling to keep up.
veto
of the Farm,
Luger, the organization's direc-
Nutrition,
and
tor of development and co-execu-
Bioenergy
Act of
tive director, says there is "more
2007,
which
man-
need, more desperation" than
dates
an
additional
she's ever seen.
$10.3 billion in aid
Yad Ezra, which was started 18
to
federal nutrition
years ago to help feed an influx of
programs.
The UJC
poor, elderly Jewish immigrants
Photop courtesy Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, New York
pushed
hard
for the
from the former Soviet Union,
Budget cuts have trimmed food pantry staffs and shelves.
measure,
which
will
now has a different clientele.
raise
the
minimum
Many are younger, working-age
benefit for food stamps for the first time
Rapfogel.
and lower-middle-class Americans are
Jews who have lost their jobs or been
in 30 years, starting in October.
Rapfogel says his budget has been
being forced to turn to food banks for help
blindsided by economic hardship.
Jewish federations support about 100
slashed by more than $2.5 million this
for the first time.
Two years ago, Yad Ezra served 1,000
food
banks through the national system
year
by
state
and
city
budget
cuts.
Those
"In general, the entire country's food
families per month. Now it serves 1,400.
of
Jewish
family service organizations,
cuts have forced the Met Council to trim
bank system is facing a crisis, and it is
Rising food costs — 10 percent in the
according
to the president and CEO of
its food pantry budget and will force the
directly affecting all of the emergency
last few months alone, Luger says — are
the
Association
of Jewish Family and
agency to lay off 34 staff members.
food providers throughout the country,"
compounding the challenge. A box of
Children's
Agencies,
Bert Goldberg.
For those who receive food stamps,
said Heather Wolfson, a spokeswoman for
groceries that cost $36.50 in January now
In
Jacksonville,
Fla.,
Jewish Family and
higher
food
costs
mean
they
can't
afford
Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger.
runs $39.
Community
Services
partners
with the
as much food.
Mazon gives as much as $4 million per
"We are really struggling here,' Luger
Winn-Dixie
supermarket
chain
to give
"For
a
household
of
four
that
would
year in grants to some 300 organizations
said.
away
some
6,000
packages
of
supplemen-
have been getting the max allotment, by
Luger is not alone. Emergency food pro- that either provide food or work in food
tary food per year.
January they were already finding that
advocacy. This year, for the first time,
viders everywhere are struggling, includ-
The group has seen a 10 to 15 percent
they were falling $30 short per month;
Mazon sent out a special mid-year appeal
ing Jewish agencies.
increase
in demand, according to its exec-
said Ellen younger, the legal director
to its donors asking for more money,
Organizational officials describe the
utive
director,
Robin Peters. Meanwhile,
for
Food
Research
and
Action
Center,
a
Wolfson said.
situation as a perfect storm: Food prices
rising
food
costs
have forced Peters to
national
food
advocacy
group.
"The
new
"There has always been a need, but
have increased by 10 to 20 percent, gas
begin
to
substitute
lower-quality food in
numbers
we
think
will
be
more
acute."
there is even more now with the economy
prices have soared to more than $4 per
her
packages.
Some
28
million
Americans
receive
food
the way it is," she said. "The unfortunate
gallon, unemployment is rising, growing
She used to give away cans of beef stew
stamps, which Vollinger estimates is only
thing is that we don't see an end to this
numbers of Americans are losing their
for
protein; now it's beef ravioli.
two-thirds
of
the
number
that
actually
very soon!'
homes to foreclosure, and state and local
Jewish
family services directors have
qualify
for
the
program.
The New York Metropolitan Council
governments are slashing funding for
been
holding
intense discussions about
Hopefully
the
crisis
will
persuade
on Jewish Poverty, which provides 13,000
social services.
how
to
deal
with
rising costs and rising
government
officials
that
they
must
help
families with non-perishable food through
The crunch is coming from both sides
needs.
While
there
is no national emer-
more,
says
William
Daroff,
the
director
of
its food bank and food vouchers to anoth-
of the socioeconomic spectrum of poor,
gency
campaign,
Goldberg
says most have
the
Washington
office
of
the
United
Jewish
er 2,000 families to buy perishable goods,
they say. Food stamps, which help the
started
their
own
emergency
campaigns
Communities
federation
umbrella
group
has seen a steady increase in middle-class
poorest of the poor, simply do not stretch
to
raise
funds
locally.
❑
and
its
vice
president
for
public
policy.
clients
in
the
past
three
or
four
months,
as far as they did a year ago. At the same
Daroff estimates that the federation sys-
according to Executive Director William
time, a growing number of working poor

Jacob Berkman

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

KORN

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7111.096;.

iN

July 10 • 2008

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