This DNN Newscast shows how one suburban food bank is coping with record demands for its services. Click on the first Related Link at the bottom of this story to view the video.

As American families gather to celebrate abundant food and festive Thanksgiving dishes, nearly 15 percent of them will struggle to have enough food to survive by the end of the weekend, according to a new government study. It is the highest recorded percentage of hungry Americans in more than a decade.

With record numbers of people unemployed, the recession has made the problem of hunger worse, challenging food banks and faith-based organizations that traditionally provide a safety net for food-challenged residents.

According to the study, released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 14.6 percent, or 49 million Americans, struggled to get enough to eat in 2008.

“About 17 million households, at some time during the year, had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources.”

This number is up from 11.1 percent (13 million households) in 2007, and is the highest observed since 1995, when federal surveys on food insecurities began.

Howard Royer, of the Church of the Brethren, said that the church challenged its constituents to donate to the Global Food Crisis Fund. The fund, which has helped pay for food security projects in 32 different countries during the past 25 years, last year provided matching grants that raised $330,000 for 318 local food banks in the U.S.

“We were only anticipating about 100 donations and we had about 357 responses. We reached about one third of a million (people). We did this last January to February figuring post-Christmas would be a time of great need.” Royer added the denomination would like to repeat the program again this year but is not certain the resources will exist to providing the matching grants.

However, he added, keeping heightened awareness of the issue is important: “People want to help; they just need to know what to do.”

The Mennonite Central Committee is also working to create awareness of food insecurity. Evanna Hess, Material Resources Center Manager, said that for the past 20 years, the Committee has had an ongoing request to its congregations to donate grocery bags of non-perishable foods.

The bags are primarily distributed through MCC programs in urban areas like Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York City and Miami. Hess said during the past year 3,000 grocery bags were distributed in these areas.

“We have noticed that needs are greater right now, especially given the time of year and the economic state. But interestingly, donations from our constituents have not declined, if anything, they have increased,” Hess said.

More recently, constituents of the MCC have donated meat, which volunteers can and distribute. The canned meat is distributed mostly through international programs, but up to 10 percent can be used in the U.S.

Hess said that because the program is ongoing, churches distributing the grocery bags maintain awareness of the program through conference meetings.

While raising public awareness is important in combating this issue, President and CEO of the Foods Resource bank, Marv Baldwin, says that thinking too broadly can sometimes be detrimental to the cause.

“Every place, every community is different. To try to create a framework that works for everyone is difficult. For example, over 70 percent of food poverty is in rural, not urban places. Teaching people, and giving them the means to grow food themselves, is more valuable in the long run. Adjusting our thinking locally doesn’t take a lot of additional resources, and can often be more effective.”

Howard Royer remains hopeful that something positive can come from the grim results of the new federal study. “With Thanksgiving, we are certainly in a time that triggers concern and empathy. This study has not only raised awareness, but it may be the kind of nudge people need to become more involved.”

According to the data from the DOA report, of the 49 million Americans who went hungry in 2008, almost 17 million, or 22.5 percent, were children.

Related Links:

• DNN Video: Food banks cope with rising demand

• Church of Brethren Global Food Crisis Fund

• Mennonite Central Committee’s Food Canning Program