As economy slides, demand surges for services, food

As the national and local economic picture continued to darken in November, the news included reports of the impact of hard times on nonprofits. For example, the Salvation Army's annual Thanksgiving dinner in Honolulu attracted a larger-than-normal number of needy people, an estimated 2,100, including more seniors and families with children.

According to news reports, the same was true elsewhere in Hawaii. About 800 low-income seniors and others were served Thanksgiving dinners by Lanakila Meals on Wheels.

Now that the state's economy is suffering from a downturn in tourism and higher energy prices, many more homeless and other people in need showed up at the tables of nonprofits that serve Thanksgiving dinners. The same was true across the nation as food banks and shelters struggle to cope with a spike in demand for their services.

Usually, about 1,800 people show up on Thanksgiving Day, according to Salvation Army spokesman Daniel De Castro. This year, some 2,100 requested free meals at the Neal Blaisdell Center, including more seniors and families with children. Knowing demand would surge, the nonprofit was prepared to handle as many as 2,500 people, taking advantage of donations of food from hotels, restaurants and individuals. The Salvation Army will use the unused food for its year-round programs, such as residential substance abuse treatment centers.

Agencies are seeing double or triple the number of recipients they normally do, according to Dick Grimm, president of the Hawaii Foodbank, which used to make 40 deliveries per month of canned and bagged food to organizations around Oahu. In October, it made 58 drops and November's total will be 51. At the same time, people served by agencies supplied by the Foodbank are now getting five or six pounds of food each instead of the 10 or 12 pounds they used to receive, since supplies are short and there are more mouths to feed.

Donations to the Foodbank are down, Grimm said, forcing the agency to buy food. At the same time, food prices have climbed. For example, 20-pound bags of rice bought in bulk now cost almost $12 -- almost $5 per bag more than last year.