Food banks overwhelmed by high demand

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34048610/ns/us_news-giving/

updated 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Soup kitchen workers are seeing new faces in line and charities are taking more calls for help as the recession makes for a less-than-bountiful Thanksgiving.

Hunger-relief advocates came to Congress on Thursday and painted a bleak picture of a country struggling to meet an increased need for food assistance at a time of high unemployment.

"In our 42-year history, we have never witnessed a demand for our services like we are seeing now," said Josh Fogt, public policy manager for Northwest Harvest in Seattle. The organization operates Washington state's largest food bank.

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The Northwest Harvest pantry in Seattle gets more than 2,500 visitors on busy days, up from a peak of 1,800 early last year, Fogt told members of the House Ways and Means Committee.

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The congressional hearing on food banks followed an Agriculture Department report that more than one in seven households struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008 — the highest rate since the agency began tracking food security in 1995.

That's about 49 million people, or 14.6 percent of U.S. households counted as lacking the food for an active, healthy life.

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