Delaware State News
DOVER — Church groups, nonprofit organizations and food pantries in Dover have a greater need than ever for donations this holiday season as they are seeing record numbers of residents who are asking for help for the first time.
The demand for services has increased by 25 percent over last year, said Kim Kostas of the Food Bank of Delaware, a nonprofit agency that mass-distributes food to people in need throughout the area.
Other local church groups have seen more-significant increases. The number of people who received food, clothes or some form of service during October jumped 308 percent from last year, said Margaret Young of the Calvary Assembly of God in Dover. The cost of food alone is up 12 percent from last year, she said.
In the past, the Food Bank has received donations from large retailers of food items that are slightly dented, close to expiration, improperly labeled or just seasonal or discontinued items, but lately, they simply can’t afford to make such sacrifices, Ms. Kostas said. Now, the retailers are selling those products to dollar stores and overseas, she said.
New faces are being seen in the food pantries, and it’s no longer just the typical low-income families that are seeking services, Ms. Kostas said. Working families are struggling to make ends meet and they are turning to church groups for help.
"The middle class has now become the working poor," she said.
Over the past six to eight months, Mrs. Young has noticed the same trend.
"Everyone has stereotypes about who they expect to see in food pantries accepting donations," she said. "But now, I’m seeing working families who have never had to ask for help before, and it’s disheartening."
Carole Hoffecker works with the Dover First Seventh-day Adventist Church, which serves 65 families from the community and co-sponsors the Camden-Wyoming Moose Lodge, which serves an additional 80 to 100 families a month.
"There is an increasing number of people who are asking for money to help pay for utilities, rent and mortgages payments," Ms. Hoffecker said.
"People are using what is meant to be a supplemental food package as their primary source of food. The state needs to take a hard look at the needs of its residents."
Ruth Pugh, the director of the Whatcoat Social Service Agency in Dover, a nonprofit group that has provided shelter and food to the homeless for the past 30 years, said she has recently noticed an increase in the number of homeless living in the shelter.
"We can accommodate 46 people at a time," she said. "There are never a lot of empty beds, but over the past eight months, there has definitely been a lot less."
Her organization gives away food baskets every month, and the increases over last year are striking. In October of 2007, she gave out 36 baskets, and this year she gave out 88.
That’s not an isolated figure. What she gave out in August nearly doubled what it was last year, and in September it more than tripled.
"I have to turn people away because there simply isn’t enough food," Ms. Pugh said.
There is a shortage of more than just food, however.
Joyce D. Canzano, president of Caring Hearts Helping Hands Inc. in Magnolia, said she is in desperate need of wish grantors to sponsor disadvantaged working families and volunteer shoppers to help gather and distribute food to the needy.
Ms. Canzano is seeing more and more people laid off and seeking financial help.
"The economy is in the commode," she said.
Anyone who wishes to lend a hand is encouraged to call Ms. Conzano at 698-1900 or 697-6492.
