Food Banks Come Up Short

At the food bank in Washington, D.C., Barbara Livingston is stocking up on supplies: huge bags of potatoes and onions, crates of milk, and boxes of clementines.

This is a good day — she should have enough to feed everyone who comes to her food pantry.

But this year, these days are rare.

"We give them the best we can," says Livingston. "This food bank, well, it's not always as good as it used to be."

It's the same story all across the country: food banks are running critically short on supplies.

"We are getting less food donated into our system," says Brian Smith, the chief operating officer of the Capital Area food bank in D.C. "That means we are able to get less food back out into the community."

This time last year, Smith's food bank had 570,000 pounds of donated goods. This year, they have less than half that.

More at link: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3975535&page=1

Thats a shame

This is sad but the prices of everything has gone up and alot of donaters cant afford to give a whole lot .

Very true. The people that can afford should help. Im broke as a joke and I still try to give a little something.

AmandaBrown23 said:

Very true. The people that can afford should help. Im broke as a joke and I still try to give a little something.

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That is the way it goes the people with the big wallet have a small heart and the people with a small wallet have a big HEART!!!!!

I know, why is it like that? I wish more people cared.

If only those who could afford to do so would pick up an item or 2 every time they grocery shop. That would make a difference.

philamena said:

If only those who could afford to do so would pick up an item or 2 every time they grocery shop. That would make a difference.

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Your exactly right all it takes is a little effort to make a difference

AmandaBrown23 said:

I know, why is it like that? I wish more people cared.

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I have my own bussiness I started it about a year and a half ago and I learned real fast the people that dont have much will do what ever it takes to pay the bill ! but the people that do have you really have to watch[ about 90% of the time ]

I hope someday this will change and everybody will care but it dont look good does it?.

Instead of buying a food item DH and I buy a gift card for $5-10 dollars when we go grocery shopping. When we get around $50 in gift cards we send them to the food bank. That way they can buy the food they need to pad out their shelves. It spreads it out for us so we're not trying to come up with a big chunk of change all at once. We do the same thing at Petsmart when we buy their and donate it to our rescue league. Much easier for us than trying to donate $50 or $100 all at once.

Becca