Hunger is hitting home for those who've rarely known it

Driven by a weaker economy and rising consumer prices, the demand for free food from Twin Cities food shelves is rising to record levels, and the face of that soaring demand is working families.

"We're seeing more families that come in regularly, people who never or rarely used food shelves before," said the Rev. John Estrem, executive director of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which operates three food shelves.

"With a gallon of gas nearly $4 and a gallon of milk even more, all it takes is a kid getting sick or a car repair and a family near hits the tipping point where kids can start to go hungry," he said.

That's why on Wednesday, with her four kids in tow, Pascale Darbonne loaded her van with five bags of groceries at the Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners food shelf in Wayzata. It's one of the few that allow weekly visits.

"The food shelf is our lifeline. With our family of six trying to live on $18,000 a year, that food is so important," said Darbonne, 34, of Plymouth. "And they'll give you a hug when you feel like crying."

Last year, Minnesota's 300 food shelves fielded nearly 2 million visits and handed out more than 47 million pounds of food -- records that will each be broken this year.

While that's 90,000 more visits than in 2006, some food shelves have seen far sharper increases. In northeastern Minnesota, food shelf visits have shot up 81 percent since 2002, twice the state average.

The pressure on food shelves is about to mount, just as the summer doldrums in giving to food shelves begin.

This week, as the school year drew to a close, so did the free or reduced-price lunches and breakfasts that bolster the nutrition for 257,000 Minnesota school children.

"Normally, that gives us a bump up in demand in the summer," said Susan Fetterer of the Wayzata food shelf that Dardonne visited Wednesday. "This summer, I'm worried. I think we're going to see even more families in trouble."

To help, scores of summer lunch programs for children will begin next week at more than 300 sites around the state, sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Education. Last year, 327 sites provided more than 1 million meals.

Despite that effort, the growing demand at food shelves may lead a coalition of Twin Cities groups to revise its plan to reduce hunger by 20 percent in the next five years.

'Hard to ask for help'

Darbonne and her family first sought help from a food shelf about two years ago.

"It's very hard to ask for help. You have this sense of personal failure, like you're failing your family," she said.

She and her husband, Brian Pierce, moved from New York City to get a series of specialized surgeries at the University of Minnesota for daughter Nadia, now 4, who was born without a connection between her throat and stomach.

"We love Minnesota and we plan to stay," she said. But their income has dropped dramatically. In New York, Pierce had worked in hospital administration and she had a child-care business. Unable to find a similar job, he now is a maintenance worker at an apartment complex while she tends the kids, three with disabilities.

"We'll make it. We'll get back on our feet. But you do what you have to do for your kids," she said.

A perfect storm

"This is a hard time for many people who don't have the resources to weather tough economic times," said Marcia Fink, director of basic needs at the Greater Twin Cities United Way, which leads the coalition to reduce hunger.

Her agency is giving $450,000 in seven grants to food shelf programs to help them better do what they have always sought to do -- help clients move out of a crisis and into financial stability.

In St. Paul, demand for help from the Neighborhood House food shelf has grown so much that it has cut visits from 45 minutes to 30 minutes to try to ensure that all clients can be served.

"It's stagnant job opportunities and rising gas and food costs," said Renae Oswald-Anderson, vice president at the community center that last year provided food for about 32,000 people -- most of them families.

"It's like the perfect storm -- everything going wrong that can go wrong," she said.

Some help is on the way. The Minnesota Legislature approved spending $500,000 to help food shelves, and the federal farm bill that Congress approved over President Bush's veto will result in more money for food programs.

"We're grateful for that, and for the support of so many Minnesotans who donate time, money and food to the food shelves," said Jill Hiebert, spokeswoman for Hunger Solutions Minnesota. The nonprofit agency manages getting and distributing food among the six America's Second Harvest food banks that supply food shelves. "But getting enough food to enough people will remain a challenge."

The Twin Cities coalition to end hunger is working to strengthen and expand services at food shelves, including linking clients to jobs and other programs aimed at strengthening families.

"We're making progress," said Fink, the United Way official. "But right now, food shelves are just scrambling to get food to people who need help immediately. We're trying to feed people and fix the system at the same time."

Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253