Cape & Islands News

No "Thanksgiving" at emptying food pantries

From Falmouth to Provincetown, food banks are stretched far tighter than ever
The amount of food available this year is down by 30 percent

By Jerry Rogovin

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Lower Cape Outreach
Masonic Angel Fund

Just two days before Thanksgiving on Cape Cod, community food pantries the length of the peninsula are becoming bare.

From Falmouth to Provincetown, community food banks and pantries are stretched far tighter than in previous years.

The situation has become so dire that the Masonic Angel Fund alerted local Masonic chapters and community organizations to be alert to the situation.

In a meeting of state, federal and local support providers in Boston Tuesday morning, the Inter-Agency Council on Housing and the Homeless reviewed ways network members can brighten the hours before Thanksgiving Day for families in need of nutritional help.

Head Start of Hyannis  Thanksgiving Baskets need is up 77% over last year.

Head Start in Hyannis typically puts up 80 Thanksgiving baskets for area families, according to its director, Mal Hughes. This year they distributed 125.

"The amount of food available this year is down by 30 percent," she reported. "And demand has doubled."

Her agency's principal source for food is the Greater Boston Food Bank. "Although ours is a small pantry, we ordinarily work with larger ones, like Boston. They are all telling us there is less available, and families are having difficulty buying enough to feed themselves.

"Part of the reason is employment, or lack of it," Hughes pointed out. "Seasonal jobs are gone. And the deeper we get into winter, the worse it will get."

One of the earliest communities to report an increase in the number of requests for grocery store gift cards was the Massachusetts Military Reservation. Many families were disqualified for a public nutrition program run by the state earlier this year.

Judy Underberg and other volunteers preparing food bags for LC Outreach. File photo by Peter Robbins.

A change in the way Massachusetts computes incomes led to a reduction in the food allowances of families enrolled in a fund for women, children and infants.

A spokesman for the chaplain's office at Air Station Cape Cod warned that the military's difficulties could get worse because food stocks in the pantries in surrounding towns "have become severely depleted because of the economy."

Food bank officials in Mashpee and Falmouth report depleted food stores. A similar situation exists on the lower Cape, according to Janice Perrin, director of human services at Lower Cape Outreach.

"Last year at this time, we had recorded 5,449 visits to the eight pantries from Harwich to Provincetown. As of Tuesday, the total is 7,060," Perrin said. Her agency, working primarily with community churches, provides canned goods, fresh vegetables, bags of frozen meat and dry milk.

Her agency allows clients to fill a regular bag of food at a Stop&Shop, Trader Joe's and other supermarkets twice a month.

"Last year at this time, we had recorded 5,449 visits to the eight pantries from Harwich to Provincetown. As of Tuesday, the total is 7,060."
    - Janice Perrin, LC Outreach.

"It's a difficult situation all over the Cape. The economy has put so many out of work as they have to pay more for heat and electricity," Perrin added.

Merrill Blum, executive director of the Veterans' Outreach Center in Hyannis, attended Tuesday morning's Boston meeting of IACHH. He said that veterans the Center serves who have been working steadily "are seeing jobs as electricians and carpenters disappear. They hate like heck to ask for help. But when unemployment benefits start running out, they turn to agencies like ours to keep their families afloat," Blum said.

Earlier this week, a veteran with three children, received $500 from the Center to buy them warm clothing. The Masonic Angel Fund wrote a check at Blum's request. "The great thing about those folks is that they've never turned us down. And they can move quickly when a sticky situation comes up," he said.

More than 5,500 bags of groceries have been issued in 2009 by the Center to veterans' families.

"The great thing about those folks (Masonic Angel Fund) is that they've never turned us down. And they can move quickly when a sticky situation comes up." - Merrill Blum.

Each is equivalent to three meal supplements. The number is about 20 percent higher than last year.

An unexpected source of funds this year has been federal stimulus funds, Blum said.

Office personnel in the Eastham United Methodist Church and the Orleans Elementary School report that area families can get food staples from local pantries. But it is not as much as in previous years. They sense that demand has outstripped the donations to the pantries. 

The Masonic Angel Fund alert urged the MAF community "to reach out to their school contacts before Thanksgiving to determine the food situation in your area.

"If a credible source tells you that things are OK, it's business as usual. But if you discover what we have found elsewhere on the Cape, we encourage you to adopt a 'just the basics' position similar to ours" said Bob Fellows of the Masonic Angel Fund.

MAF ordinarily funds clothing and eyeglasses needs, and supports after-school programs and tuition through 132 Masonic lodges across the U.S. A 'just the basics' position focuses on immediate and severe needs such as the current food pantries situation.The Fund was established 11 years ago by Bob Fellows and John Sherman, two members of the Orleans Universal Masonic Lodge. It works through schools and recognized social agencies to meet the need of children and their families.

Fellows, the organization's board president, described its mission as supporting lower income families that are overlooked by government and larger agencies.

Poverty is higher here than many realized

Poverty is higher on Cape Cod and the Islands than many realize. MAF's website revealed that the percentage of children living in poverty last year ranges from 20.5-31.3 percent of all children in Barnstable, Dennis-Yarmouth and Provincetown.

The number of Americans living in households that lacked consistent access to food in 2008 was 49 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That was 13 million higher than in 2007 and the highest since the federal government began tracking what it calls "food insecurity" 14 years ago.