Tough times

Rise in food prices affecting food pantries

By Owen Boss

GARDNER— Over the past several months, residents of Gardner have been coping with steadily increasing food and gas prices. In the wake of these additional costs, food pantries across the region have seen a growing demand for food and a decrease in the number of contributions. Director of the Gardner Community Action Council, Julie Meehan, said that over the course of the past fiscal year, she has seen a tremendous increase in the number of people seeking food donations. “We were just looking at our numbers, and over the last nine months we’ve seen a 43 percent increase in the people utilizing the food pantry,” said Ms. Meehan. “There have been less people donating because people who were donating at one time just don’t have the extra money that they once had to donate.” Ms. Meehan said that she first noticed the increased demand in October, which she believed was spurred by the increase in oil costs that many families had to pay to keep their homes heated during the winter months. “We really started to see a significant increase at the beginning of the heating season,” said Ms. Meehan. “and we expect to see a similar increase throughout the summer months because families with children will no longer be able to depend on daily school lunches.” Also affected is the pantry at the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center. Director Darrell Keating said that because the pantry rents a truck to transport the majority of their donated goods from the Worcester County Food Bank in Shrewsbury, the increased gas prices are an additional burden. “We have seen an increase in the demand for food, not a large increase, but we have noticed a rise,” said Mr. Keating. “We rent a U-Haul truck to go pick up our food once a month and we set aside so much money for transportation costs in our annual budget, but we try to make up the difference in other ways.” Mr. Keating said that with the proposed budget the center has for the coming fiscal year, he expects the veterans center will just about break even. Joanne Tulonen, director of Battered Womens Resources in Leominster, said that although they don’t have enough donated food on hand to consider themselves a functioning food pantry, they have definitely seen an increase in the number of women requesting goods. “We only have a small closet that we keep stocked with food,” said Ms. Tulonen. “We usually keep food here for emergencies, and have to offer it to the women who come in, but over the last month I have noticed that women are actually coming in to request food from us.” The increase, Ms. Tulonen said, is a sign of things to come and that people in the community have to start donating food to support the poor in the area. “This is an indication to me that things aren’t pretty,” said Ms. Tulonen. “The next couple of months are not going to be pretty or easy for anyone, but if we can get some more people to donate food it will help out the poorest people of the region tremendously.” oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 5/10/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 112)