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Pantries may run bare Photo by Steve Johnson Mick Johnson fills food boxes at the Medford Salvation Army, one of 15 food pantries supplied by ACCESS Inc. Johnson and other food bank operators say demand for emergency food has increased . Emergency food banks struggle to keep up with demand By SUSAN JAY More and more people are struggling to feed themselves in Jackson County, and local food bank networks are scrambling to keep up with the surge in requests for emergency food boxes. "We can't keep up with the demand," said Ben Benjamin, coordinator of ACCESS Inc.'s Food Share program, which coordinates the largest network of food pantries in Jackson County. ACCESS's twice-monthly shipment of food from the Oregon Food Bank is lasting only half as long as usual, Benjamin said. And ACCESS already has had to distribute all of the food donated in the winter's two major food drives. ACCESS's 15 pantry sites combined gave out 1,162 food bags in August, a 20 percent increase over last August, Benjamin said. Ashland Emergency Food Bank saw a 45 percent jump in the number of people served during the first seven months of this year compared with the same period last year, said Joan Dean, president of the food bank board. "It's even been worse in August," she said, when the Ashland food bank handled 150 requests compared with the average of 100 a month. Other smaller food banks such as St. Vincent de Paul and Cornerstone Church also reported a rising number of people coming in for food. No one has a single answer for the increase in demand, but everyone has some ideas. Bob Collins, 65, said that in his case, an emergency medical problem made it necessary for him to seek food at the Salvation Army in Medford, one of the few food pantries open five days a week. "It's a stopgap measure in my case, to feed my family and myself until I can get things straightened out," he said. Collins' veteran's pension was used to pay for his heart treatment in Portland, cutting his income. For Sandy Carroll, 37, who also showed up at the Salvation Army Tuesday, moving to a new home and helping her mother, who recently learned she has cancer, meant nothing left over after paying the bills. The food box, which she needs a few times a year, helps her make ends meet, she said. Mick Johnson, who runs the Salvation Army food pantry, said many factors are responsible for the increase in hungry people, including new residents moving into the valley. Her counterpart at the Ashland Salvation Army, Nanci Caster, said she, too, is seeing many young people and families moving to Ashland thinking they can find work that pays a living wage. Then they find out how hard it is to find jobs in the valley. Also, "We have older people who are trying to stretch their income with their medical bills," she said. With Medicare paying nothing for prescriptions, "they have to either give up their medicine or their food." Have your own food drives ACCESS and the Ashland Emergency Food Bank are launching public campaigns for more donations. ACCESS is asking that people conduct food drives at their work, church, service club or sports team. ACCESS can help by providing collection barrels and picking up food. It's cheaper for food pantries, however, if they can pick up donated food themselves, because they don't have to pay the 7 to 14 cents per pound ACCESS charges to cover transportation, warehouse and refrigeration costs. ACCESS has also sent a letter to local churches asking them to ask parishioners to bring food items to church on Sunday, Sept. 26. The Ashland Emergency Food Bank is planning its first Supermarket Saturday Food Drive Sept. 25. Volunteers from local churches will be at five local stores from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. collecting food and asking customers to buy extra for those who can't afford to shop. Participating markets are: Albertson's Food Center, 2301 Ashland Ave.; Shop 'N' Kart, 2268 Ashland Ave.; Buy Rite Market, 1475 Siskiyou Blvd.; Ashland Community Food Store, 237 N. First St., and Cantwell's Market, 310 Oak St. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA