Arthur Delaney
Demand At Food Banks Up, Even In Well-Off D.C. Suburbs
First Posted: 08- 5-09 11:20 AM | Updated: 08- 5-09 01:46 PM
Mezmure Dawit, 22, showed up at the food bank in Fairfax, Va., looking for help. He said he'd lost his job as a maintenance man at an apartment building last month and he needed food for his 14-year-old brother and 18-year-old sister.
He said their father had left them five months ago. "He just left. No money, nothing," said Dawit, wearing crisp blue jeans and a striped shirt. "It's been hard, man."
As the national unemployment rate nears 10 percent, more and more people are turning to food banks for help keeping food on their plates. Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charity, reports that demand at food banks across the United States is up 30 percent from last year.
Feeding America spokeswoman Maura Daly told the Huffington Post that as recently as May of last year, 90 percent of Feeding America's clients cited food and fuel costs as their reasons for needing assistance. By December 90 percent were citing unemployment as the primary reason.
"Over a six-month period we saw a really dramatic shift," Daly said.
The greater Washington, D.C. area has the second-lowest unemployment rate -- 6.6 percent -- of any metropolitan area in the country, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor. Nevertheless, local food banks and distributors report surging demand from scores of new clients.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/05/demand-at-food-banks-up-e_n_251338.html