Brian Boyce
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
A lack of jobs and dismal conditions have food banks staring down high double-digit increases of hungry mouths.
“It’s pretty consistent with the increase in unemployment,” John Etling, director of Catholic Charities, Terre Haute, said Friday afternoon of the ever-skyrocketing numbers seen at that agency’s food bank.
According to Etling, the Bethany House’s soup kitchen served 30,431 meals in 2008 and 45,056 in 2009, representing a nearly 50 percent increase from two years ago to last.
And Etling said those rates are still on an upward trajectory, spiking 15 to 20 percent again in recent months. “All of our agencies are reporting higher numbers coming back to the pantries right now,” he said.
Running through the Catholic Charities annual reports, Etling said the food bank went through about 2 million pounds of food in 2009. Before Labor Day Weekend commenced Friday, they were at 2.1 million pounds. “By December’s end, we should be at 2.4 million. That’s what we’re trending,” he said, noting the ongoing generosity of local food drive efforts. “We’re probably looking at an all-time record for us, this calendar year, for food that came into the food bank.”
And down at the loading docks that afternoon, Tom Kuhl said they can use every ounce of it. About 5,800 pounds of food had just come in from a drive conducted by the Vigo County School Corporation, and its boxes and pallets stood in stark contrast to the empty shelves inside the food bank.
“It was pretty good getting that in,” the food bank’s director said, noting the speed with which they distribute food to agencies in the seven-county area they serve.
Walmart donates about 45,000 pounds of produce a week to the local food bank, he said, adding that Baesler’s Market recently gave them 5,000 pounds of frozen meat. That meat was gone in “probably a week and a half,” he said. “With increased need, agencies keep getting more and more. Mostly it’s because of the lack of jobs. People keep saying the economy’s getting better but we’re not feeling it.”
Etling concurred, noting the number of foreclosed homes keeps climbing. “I’d be curious to know how many businesses have gone under locally,” he said, pinning much of the blame on Vigo County’s 11.5 percent unemployment rate. “I think it starts there. And I think we’re seeing a lot of people, who for the first time in their lives, are accessing these programs.”
And with a lack of food, a comparable increase has been seen at the Bethany House’s homeless shelter. “We never have an empty bed over there,” he said. “We have a four-page waiting list at the Bethany House,” explaining there just aren’t enough beds to house all those in need.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
