Food banks need more assistance

AIKEN --- In the midst of what Capt. Angie Repass says is a "crisis" situation for her food bank, some area residents have chipped in to help replenish its stock of canned goods.

"The community is responding," said Capt. Repass, of the Salvation Army's Aiken branch.

But she says more donations are needed because the pantry has been struggling to keep food on its shelves this summer -- a time when food banks typically see more demand because children are out of school and parents must provide lunch.

Capt. Repass said her agency's latest drought resulted from a combination of factors, including low food donations around Christmas.

"Normally when we get food around Christmas, the canned vegetables, the Ramen noodles will last us into the summer months," she said. "This year, they lasted us until about February or March. And then when the tornado hit, we had to use a lot of our canned vegetables from the pantry to feed the tornado victims as well."

That storm hit the Beech Island and Petticoat Junction areas in April, causing millions of dollars in damage.

Capt. Repass said the economic downturn has also created a big increase in demand, with 640 families seeking assistance from October through June of this year, compared with 492 for October through June a year ago.

Rebecca Wallace, of the Salvation Army's Augusta branch, said it is seeing a similar trend. She said gasoline prices and high power bills resulting from hot weather are factors as well.

"It's just kind of one of those rolling down the hill things at this moment, with everything converging at one time," she said.

To keep its pantry stocked, the Augusta Salvation Army is having to spend more money from its budget, she said.

"It's really dipping into our budget more so than it ever has before," she said. "It's coming out of our own pocket."

Michael Firmin, the executive director of the Golden Harvest Food Bank, said groups such as the Salvation Army are mirroring what Golden Harvest has seen.

"One reason the Salvation Army is low on food is because they and practically every nonprofit charity and church outreach program that does food (in the area) gets it from us," he said. "So their plight is ours."

He said that though donations from individuals have stayed steady compared to a year ago, "like all for-profit corporations, the food companies, food manufacturers are hurting. They're tightening up on their inventories and not donating as much product."

He said Golden Harvest has been helped by an increase in U.S. Department of Agriculture commodities as part of the federal stimulus bill. The agency has also purchased food.

"It's put a tremendous pressure on us financially," he said.

Rusty Marsh, the South Carolina administrator for Golden Harvest, said that if someone came to his site they would see "lot of bins that are empty that normally would have food in them."

He said his office, which oversees 11 counties, including Aiken, is looking forward to about $27,180 in federal stimulus money that will be trickling in over the next couple months to help area food pantries.

Until that money arrives, he said, the situation could remain difficult for a couple more months.

"We're looking at a summer that's going to be tough," he said.

Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.