Food shelf usage increases Need up, but donations decline with economy

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Putting food on the table is becoming more difficult for many families.

Out of necessity, more of those families are turning to local foodshelves for assistance.

Marlice Clark knows the problem quite well. She started working at the New Ulm Emergency Food Shelf nine years ago. Usage numbers for November confirm the increase in need and usage.

"I served 600 families last year," Clark said. "And this year, it's going to be over 700."

Reasons for the increase typically point to the faltering economy and its accompanying job cuts and wage freezes that not only bring people to the foodshelves but also squeeze consumers and force them to donate less or sometimes not at all.

Janine Laird, executive director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota, a statewide coalition of food shelves and food banks, said food shelf usage has shot up since 2001 at a time when donations from the general public and from private food producers are falling.

Locally, food shelves in New Ulm, Gaylord and St. Peter have seen more people coming in to get food this year than in years past.

Laird said food shelf usage in those cities has jumped by about 9 percent since 2001. The four food shelves in Redwood Falls saw a 13.5 percent reduction in usage in the past year, but the number of people using those resources are still three times as large as in St. Peter and Gaylord and nearly five times larger than in New Ulm.

As in many parts of the state, a number of area employers have followed nationwide trends by either cutting hours or eliminating shifts altogether. Those cutbacks have left many families without the resources necessary to sustain themselves and have translated into increased usage of county welfare programs, said Brown County Family Services Director Tom Henderson.

There were 1,372 families in Brown County that used some type of welfare program in October 2001, said Henderson. One year later, there are now 1,524 families using Medical Assistance, food vouchers or both, he said.

According to Minnesota Food Share, 1.32 million Minnesotans visited food shelves in 2001, marking a 10 percent increase from 2000. The center's website said the jump is the largest in a decade.

"It has a two-fold impact," Laird said. "When the economy shrinks, people have more out-of-pocket expenses, and that increases the need but it also puts a pinch on donations because people are feeling the need themselves and can't afford to be as generous."

Mary Ann Larsen is the head of We Care Morgan, a food shelf she started with her sister 43 years ago in Morgan.

Larsen said more people are using her food shelf now than five years ago. And it's right around Thanksgiving and Christmas that business starts to boom.

"We have almost 100 to 200 people a month," she estimated. "But it depends on the season. We already have a huge list for Christmas. With factory layoffs and part-time jobs, this year's Christmas list will be very long. Last year, we had more than 250 people here and I'm sure there's going to be more."

Larsen said We Care Morgan still gets a steady stream of food donations from local service clubs and private individuals even though the economy has reduced the amount of food donated.

Rob Kline, development director for Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank in St. Paul, said food donations are down by 10 percent this year. He said that while individuals give most of the money and food that his organization distributes, contributions from corporate food donors like General Mills, Cargill, Kraft and Super Valu are also sinking.

Kline said changes in those companies' production methods have left them with less to donate. Some manufacturers are also finding markets for the products that they would normally donate, Kline said.

And some Minnesota food shelf donors have either moved or were bought by companies that don't make charitable contributions, said John Wollum, director of procurement for Hunger Solutions.

"With the soft economy, people are taking a closer look at raising revenues," Wollum said. "Rather than donate, if they can make a buck on selling their product, they'd rather do that."

Laird said numbers in the federal 2002 census are also a barrier in Minnesota because improvements in the state's poverty figures have reduced the amount of federal food subsidies coming into the state. Laird said the reduction is based on two-year old information and doesn't reflect Minnesota's current economic conditions.

"The world of 2002 is a lot different from the world of 2000," she said. "Economically, we took a big hit because we were doing so well."