Hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in Massachusetts face unprecedented demand for meals from cash-strapped, struggling residents and are asking state officials to step in to help address the problem.
The state’s four non-profit food banks – which supply food to organizations around the commonwealth – have asked the Patrick administration to increase state funding to $15 million in fiscal year 2013 – a $3.5 million bump from fiscal year 2012. Recent cutbacks in food supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and increased prices make it harder to feed the hungry, according to several advocates.
Some food pantries now face days when they run out entirely and have to shut their doors, advocates said.
“If we don’t get more food we will have a social problem on our hands the likes of which we haven’t seen in a while,” said Andrew Morehouse, executive director of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
Catherine D’Amato, president and chief executive officer of The Greater Boston Food Bank, said food received under the USDA’s emergency food assistance program is down 35 percent.
The Congressional Super Committee’s failure to reach consensus means more cuts to food programs, which took a 20 percent decrease in the current federal budget, she said.
State funding to the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program has been level since 2007, and it won’t be enough next year, advocates say.
Earlier this month, the four food banks submitted written testimony to state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard Sullivan to a push for more money.
“The middle class is getting wiped out and going to food pantries,” D’Amato said.
The state commissioner of agricultural resources, who oversees the food assistance money, said there is not a lot of room to grow the program because it already takes up two-thirds of the department’s $16 to $17 million operating budget.
“There is no question we are seeing more demand for those programs as a result of what is happening with the economy,” Commissioner Scott Soares said.
“I am concerned overall,” he said about federal cuts. “There are a variety of programs impacted, food programs, and environmental programs. We are all in a period where we are managing to do less with less. It is a reflection of the state of the economy.”
Between 2006 and 2010, the demand for food from food banks grew by 23 percent in Massachusetts.
Federal aid that propped up food bank resources during the height of the recession has receded, but the demand has not, according to officials from the Greater Boston Food Bank, which feeds 545,000 people a year. Places like the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, Rosie’s Place, the Pine Street Inn, and local food pantries in dozens of communities rely on the Greater Boston Food Bank for a bulk of their supplies.
Money from the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program helps buy locally-grown produce – eggs, milk and other fresh staples. But with food prices on the rise – dairy is up 8 percent, and the average price of peanut butter has skyrocketed 30 percent, D’Amato said, “that $11.5 million doesn’t get you $11.5 million anymore.”
The Greater Boston Food Bank serves approximately 550 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in eastern Massachusetts. Three other banks – The Food Bank of western Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, and the Worcester County Food Bank – provide to people in need outside the Boston area.