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Food banks still show shortage Local deficit eases, but need's still high Staff and wire reports A flurry of food drives has helped ease concerns at Jackson County's largest network of food pantries, but demand remains high with winter looming. A few weeks ago, supplies were running extremely low, but Ben Benjamin, who coordinates ACCESS Inc.'s Food Share program, says food drives at schools and offices have netted enough food to meet the demand. "It is happening," he says. "We're going to keep on top of it. The public helped us out and heeded the call." Still, he says it's important that the community not get complacent. The need remains high, making the annual holiday season food drives important. The first big effort, the Boy Scout's Scouting for Food drive, starts Nov. 13. Despite record employment and a strong economy, the Oregon Food Bank is reporting a 14 percent jump in the number of people receiving emergency food in the past year, up to 460,000 boxes distributed statewide. Jackson County has also seen a 14 percent increase, Benjamin says. The number of boxes parceled out in Coos and Curry counties ballooned more than 42 percent from the prior year. Other steady increases were reported elsewhere in Multnomah County and in Salem. The increase from July 1998 to July 1999 is mainly because of families moving off welfare into low-paying jobs, population growth and rising housing and child-care costs, according to social workers and welfare experts. Now, 41 percent of those getting help are children, and most of the rest are single mothers, said Liesl Wendt, spokeswoman for the food bank. "They are people who are working or looking for work," Wendt said. "Some have work but now make too much to qualify for the (welfare benefits) they still need." But the jump at food banks is not explained by the number of Oregon families receiving food stamps or cash aid, said Jim Neely, deputy administrator with the state Adult and Family Services. The number of families on food stamps has stayed consistent during the past year, moving from 105,240 families receiving a total $15,360,744 in September 1998 to 105,989 families receiving $15,560,345 in August, Neely said. And although the number of families on cash assistance has dropped 16 percent during the past two years, there was only a 2 percent decrease in the last year, according to Neely. The rising cost of housing is also a factor. "As housing costs rise, which they've been doing for a long time, it leaves less and less for the other important things a family needs," said Peter Grundfossen of the Association of Oregon Housing Authority in Portland. He said more than 107,000 low-income families in Oregon spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Average rental prices in the Portland area increased from $563 a month in 1994 to $635 a month in 1997. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA