Rob took a picture quickly before she got back.
Lines growing at food pantries
(http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1187956,092808foodpantry.article)
(http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1187956,092808foodpantry.article)
September 28, 2008
Increasing gas prices. Increasing food prices. Foreclosures. Unemployment. Volatility on Wall Street.
Lawmakers are talking about ways to avoid an economic calamity.
But, for growing numbers of south suburban residents, calamity already has arrived.
Southland food pantries are reporting an explosive growth in the numbers of people who need help putting food on their tables. And there's no end in sight.
Sandra Graniczny knows all too well about the hardship.
With only a part-time job at a mall, she and her daughter have been homeless for a month. They spent the past week in her car. She lost her apartment when the landlord died.
"I was there five years, but never had a lease," she said.
Graniczny and her daughter, Samantha, moved in with Graniczny's mother.
"Then, she told me to leave. My daughter is anorexic bulimic and my mother couldn't deal with that," Graniczny said.
"It's been rough," she said, while standing in line Friday outside Respond Now 1439 Emerald Ave., Chicago Heights, waiting for food and, perhaps, a lead on a place to live.
She and about 25 other people were patiently waiting in line to get groceries and other assistance from Respond Now, a not-for-profit organization.
Respond Now has seen a 45 percent increase in the number of families it serves compared with a year ago, director Carl Wolf said.
Respond Now is not alone when it comes to being busy, said Bob Dolgan, spokesman for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Demand has increased countywide. The depository serves shelters and pantries in the city and Cook County.
"We've seen a 20 percent increase in pantry visits across Cook County from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008. And, the early returns for this fiscal year are actually more stunning. We saw a 35 percent increase in July of this year compared to July 2007," Dolgan said.
Dolgan blames higher costs for food and gasoline.
"It's just harder and harder to make ends meet right now," Dolgan said. "For a lot of people, those extra costs mean they have to go to a pantry to get food. People aren't having near as much flexibility in their budgets, especially after they pay rent and utilities. There's not a lot of money left over," Dolgan said.
Wolf blames the economy.
"It always comes back to high prices. The cost of everything is going up," Wolf said.
The numbers back up Wolf's take on the situation.
From July 2006 to June 2007, a total of 10,203 families were given groceries by Respond Now. From July 2007 to June 2008, there was a dramatic increase with 14,792 families helped. That's an increase of 45 percent.
Wolf is concerned about what economic conditions mean for donations to Respond Now, which relies on about one-third of its food supplies from individual donors.
"We'll see what happens. Our key time for donations is the holidays. I'll have to write a good appeal (to potential donors)," Wolf said.
Suburbs may be harder hit than the city, Dolgan said, because suburban residents tend to need their cars to get around more than city dwellers.
Demand is up 25 percent at the food pantry Marianne Hill runs at the Orland Township office, going from 120 to 150 families each month.
"Every month is a little different, but we hear more people saying, 'I lost my job and everything is so expensive'," Hill said.
Like most food pantries, clients can get supplies once a month.
"We serve Orland Park, Orland Hills and parts of Tinley Park," Hill said. "But we get calls from all over. Oak Lawn. Bridgeview. People are desperate now."
She'll serve non-township residents once, she said.
Asked if she's worried about donations being down this year because past donors may be feeling the pinch, Hill said: "I always worry because we want to continue to help people, especially those with little children."
In Steger, at St. Liborius Church, they feed needy folks a hot meal on Tuesday or Wednesday each week. Business is booming.
"We've increased quite a bit. We serve well over 100 at the meals and we're filling 80 baskets of food a week," said Kay Cantway, vice president of the pantry.
Like many pantries, they buy supplies at reduced prices from the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
"We see young and old now. Big families. Five or six in a family. And we still have the senior citizens who don't get much from Social Security. I know how that is. I lost by husband in March and without the Social Security, I'd be in line (for food), too," said Cantway, 83, of South Chicago Heights.
Dee Wcisel, of Flossmoor, has been helping every Friday at Respond Now for 18 years. She's one of the people who fills the orders from clients, loading a grocery cart with items from the shelves and refrigerators, wheeling out the cart and talking with the people. That's the best part, she said.
"You sit and you talk with them. You find something special in every single person," Wcisel said.
Steve Metsch can be contacted at smetsch@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5996.
