As many Americans worry in general about the economy, some people feel those concerns every day.
Tens of thousands of Granite Staters worry about getting enough to eat.
The problem is particularly serious in The North Country.
To make matters worse contributions to food banks are way down across the state.
NHPR Correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.
| How to help
The New Hampshire Food Bank website includes a list of food pantries throughout the state.
The Tri-County Community Action Program has programs throughout The North Country: 1-800-552-4617.
From Nov. 10 through the 17th the Boy Scouts will be holding their annual “Scouting for Food” drive. In many areas Scouts or Cub Scouts will be leaving plastic bags at homes in the hope that they will be filled with food. The bags will then be picked up on Nov. 17th.
These North Country collection sites will also be open on November 17th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. They are:
Berlin Armory, 2169 Riverside
Lancaster Armory, 532 Main Street
Littleton Armory, 350 Meadow Street
Food drops elsewhere in the state are:
Somersworth Armory
Nashua Armory
Devine’s Flooring in Milford
Portsmouth Armory
New Hampshire Union Leader – Manchester
Hillsboro Armory
Derry main fire station
Londonderry main fire station
Salem main fire station
Concord armory
St. Patricks Church in Pelham
Franklin Armory |
CREAKY DOOR OPENING
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They come in quietly, usually in ones and twos to the Community Church of Christ in Franconia.
Their cars and trucks are as different as their clothing and their ages.
What they share is a worry about having enough to eat.
Throughout the state aid workers report a lot more people are coming in to get bags of food.
But the problem is more serious in The North Country.
Kathy White supervises the church’s food pantry.
15.359 “We’ve increased. We currently feed between 50 and 60 families a week. Or, that is how many bags we give out a week. Fifty or sixty. A year ago, if we gave out 40, that was a big week.”
Downstairs Deacon Robert Williams is going from shelf to shelf filling a plastic bag with enough groceries to help a feed a family for a few days.
34:063 “We take a bag and we put in, it says, plain pasta, so I put in one, a thing of spaghetti and the other rice and pasta mixes, put in one, so here we’ll take a box of couscous. Pasta sauce, it says one. These are just actually plain, diced tomatos. Cereal one. Put in a box of Shur-Fine toasted oats.”
THIS WILL FADE OUT AS I START
Unfortunately, filling those bags is getting harder.
It used to be that manufacturers and grocery stores donated their surpluses.
But that supply is drying up as stores and distributors become more efficient at ordering.
That huge drop in donations alarms Melanie Gosselin, the executive director of The New Hampshire Food Bank.
The Manchester-based organization provides food to about 350 food pantries statewide.
05:694 - “Things are coming in and going right out if they are valuable or nutritious products.”
In addition some food donations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have also dropped-off.
At the Littleton office of the Tri-County Community Action Program Karen Hoyt said supplies have never been lower.
“It is a terrible feeling not to be able to give people. Some people you just know they don’t have the money. A big increase in the number of children. We kind of apologize and say well I am sorry this is all we’ve got. We’re doing the best we can.”
And at the same time ,Tri-County is reporting it served 14 percent more people last year than the year before.
In 2005 federal officials estimated 6.5 percent of the state’s residents were “food insecure.”
In other words, they worry about where their next meal was coming from, or they might be down right hungry.
The only state that did better was North Dakota.
But it still means that New Hampshire had about 80,000 people worried about having enough to eat.
In 2006 a study of the New Hampshire Food Bank concluded it was helping nearly 67 thousand people a year.
With 2007 coming to a close nobody has comprehensive, updated figures for either the state or the North Country.
But workers at food pantries statewide are reporting that 30 to 40 percent more people are coming in asking for help.
Terry Smith, the director of the state’s division of family assistance, says about 29,000 families got food stamps this month.
That is about 15 percent more than two years ago.
The increase is greater in the North Country where state officials report an increase of 20 percent compared to July 2005.
Daphne Kenyon knows all about the higher costs of the North Country.
She authored a study released in January called “New Hampshire’s Basic Needs and Livable Wage 2006.”
She found that North Country residents pay less for housing than in the rest of the state.
But they have lower wages and higher costs for food, healthcare and particularly transportation.
25:733 - “For most family types, other than a single person, it is tougher in the North Country. People need to realize how different the North Country is. Transportation is much more important. The North Country is about the size of Delaware but it has a population density similar to Utah. So, it is dramatically different than the rest of New Hampshire. ”
Kathy White at Franconia’s Community Chuch of Christ says it’s hard to see so many people needing so much help.
She can think of only one upside.
14:29 -- “It makes me feel really rich in my life and I am not living high off the hog. It makes me feel like, wow, I have everything going for me. I really do, compared to some of these people.”
For NHPR News, this is Chris Jensen
