AMESBURY — There's one word that Rosemary Werner uses most often to describe the state of things at Our Neighbors' Table in Amesbury.
Scary.
"This year, more than ever, we're in dire need," said Werner, the director of the meals program and food pantry. "It's absolutely scary to pay the prices that we're paying."
With soaring food prices, increasing demand for help and higher fuel costs, local service organizations are struggling to make ends meet and provide the aid that people are seeking.
The number of weekly visitors to Our Neighbors' Table is up 40 percent over last year, Werner said. More people who are coming in are homeless, while others have jobs or are working professionals with families, Werner said. From January to March 2007, Our Neighbors' Table served 3,719; for the same time period this year, it saw 6,784 people.
At Pettengill House in Salisbury, the number of clients also has jumped. From July 2006 to June 2007, the organization served 2,200 clients. From the end of last June until now, 2,700 already have been served — and there's still nearly two months to go in the fiscal year.
"Every program is being affected," Executive Director Deborah Smith said.
Smith said her staff is seeing new faces coming in for help.
"The middle-class people are now really struggling to make ends meet," she said.
With people now paying more for groceries and to fill their cars, the dollars aren't stretching as far, she said. Some of the people who donated to the organization before are finding themselves tapped out and unable to make that donation, she said.
Some who come in to get food from the pantry are ones who once helped stock those same shelves, Smith said.
"They'd be the donors before," Smith said. "It's a different kind of population."
Pettengill House was forced to lay off three employees and cut back on the number of children/family programs it offers to stretch its operating budget, Smith said.
At Pettengill House, from January to the end of March, 10,055 total meals were served through the food pantry — compared to 8,549 meals for the same period last year.
Werner also said her organization has seen a dip in donations as people struggle to pay their own food bills.
Directors of local service programs said yesterday they are counting on this weekend's food drive, run by the U.S. Postal Service, to help fill their shelves. All mail carriers will pick up nonperishable food items placed near the mailbox during their routes on Saturday.
Bill Browning, the director of Community Services for Community Action Inc. said yesterday this weekend's food drive is traditionally "the biggest food drive there is for us" and all food pantries.
"Our food pantry is very busy," Browning said.
The organization is also seeing more clients coming in with higher utility bills — as people devote more money to food and gas, in some cases, they can't keep up with all the utility bills, paying some and letting others slide, Browning said.
"More people are coming in with larger bills," he said.
As need swells, Browning said Community Action is seeing growth in all populations — families, the elderly and single folks — including some who never had to visit a pantry before. "I really feel we're seeing it at all levels," Browning said.
At Our Neighbors' Table, volunteers are being more cautious when it comes to traveling to pick up donations from local residents.
"We have to make our trip count," Werner said. "To bring the truck there, we can't just pick up a couple of things. We can't spend $20 in gas to pick up $5 worth of food; it doesn't make sense. You have to really look hard at things."
Just recently, Werner paid $6,840 for an order that filled up the truck Our Neighbors' Table uses.
While some parts of that order will last for several months, she said, some things don't last long. "It depends; cereal goes flying out of here quickly." Before the current situation, that food would have lasted longer, she said.
"We see it every time we turn around," Werner said. "There's an enormous expense behind everything."
"We hope (this Saturday's drive) will be a boost in the arm for us," Werner said.
"I'm so lucky that Vermette's is holding the cost of milk down for me," Werner said. "They're giving me the same price they did last year, which is a blessing for me."
The food pantry is limited to only taking five or six cases of cereal — each case has 12 boxes — when it visits larger food banks to get supplies. As the food pantry serves about 400 people a week, those cases only last so long, Werner said.
"It's scary," she repeated.
READER BOX:
Below is a sampling of price hikes over recent years:
White Bread: 11.5 percent
Frozen Orange Juice: 18.6 percent
Whole Chicken: 10.5 percent
Eggs: 37.5 percent
Milk: 21 percent
Source: The Greater Boston Food Bank
IF YOU WANT TO DONATE:
Our Neighbors' Table: Main Street Congregational Church, Amesbury, 978-388-1907; Wednesday meals program and food pantry
Pettengill House: 13 Lafayette Road, Salisbury; 978-463-8801; community social service organization, food pantry, support services, school-linked service program, parenting classes
Salvation Army: 40 Water St., Newburyport, 978-465-0883; youth programs, meals programs, food pantry, seasonal programs (Wish Upon A Star gift drive, holiday baskets, the Red Kettle fundraiser)
Community Action Inc., Town Hall Annex, 11 School St., Amesbury, 978-388-2570; provides support programs for residents from 11 cities and towns, including Amesbury. The programs offered include emergency rent and utility (EFSP), food pantry, heating assistance, homeless aid, Salvation Army Good Neighbor Energy Fund and water/sewer assistance.
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