[October 16, 2011] Food pantries feeling the pinch Tweet Oct 16, 2011 (The Sun Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- When the food pantry at Grace Lutheran Church in Long Beach opened Thursday, it was the first time in three weeks because the pantry had run out of food. Church officials have had to cut back the number of days the pantry is open from two days a week to once a month. Many food pantries throughout South Mississippi are suffering because of the bad economy -- their donations are down and the requests for help are up. "This has been a problem for about six months to a year," said the Rev. Barbara Hunter, pastor at Grace Lutheran. "We've had to limit who we can serve because we don't have enough food. Much of our food pantry has been supported by our members, and their incomes have gone down." Hunter said the church used to give food to people from west Gulfport and Long Beach, but now they can serve only people who live in Long Beach. The Hancock County Food Pantry also has seen more families seeking help, particularly in the past couple of months, Executive Director Frank Manchester said. The food pantry gets donations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as Twelve Baskets Food Bank in Gulfport and the Walmart in Waveland. Manchester said the USDA and Twelve Baskets have been giving less food recently. "That amount has decreased by about half from earlier this year," he said. What helped the pantry was a $75,000 grant the group received from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. "That put us back to what we have gotten in donations," Manchester said, adding the number of foundations offering grants has shrunk considerably. "After Hurricane Katrina, we got a lot of help from foundations," he said. "That has dried up to almost nothing. We're not seeing the grants that we did the first three or four years after Katrina." Barbara Evans, the coordinator of Our Daily Bread in Wiggins, said the pantry gets enough donations from churches, but the need for food is growing in the community. "We've had a tremendous increase in the number of people that need help," she said. "A lot of people have lost their jobs in Stone County, but people who still have jobs have trouble making ends meet because of the cost of gas and food." Last month, the food pantry, which is helping about 250 Stone County families a month, served about 40 additional families. Franklin Williams, director of the Long Beach Food Pantry, said he feels fortunate his pantry hasn't suffered much because of the economy. The pantry is supported by 17 churches, and schools and other groups hold food drives each year. The pantry also gets donations from individuals. "I really have no complaints," he said. "We get help from lots of different groups." The food pantry serves residents from U.S. 49 west to the Harrison County line and from U.S. 90 to Saucier. Most food pantries in this area, though, are struggling to provide for those in need. Susan Taylor, president of St. Vincent de Paul at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Biloxi, said the group spends about $1,000 each week on food. The number of people seeking help in the parish is growing, she said. "We are seeing more new homeless faces," she said. The group gave food to 8,500 people between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, and Taylor said about 25 or 30 people come to St. Vincent de Paul daily. Most need food, as well as other assistance. "You can definitely see the effects of the economy on people, and it's scary." ___ (c)2011 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) Visit The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) at www.sunherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]