CHOW video and article at WBNG

Hungry for Donations

By WBNG News


Story Created: Nov 2, 2009 at 8:33 PM EST
Story Updated: Nov 2, 2009 at 11:08 PM EST

With more and more people losing their jobs, the Southern Tier is seeing a growing need for hunger relief.

Multimedia Watch The Video And as Action News Reporter Rachael Hidalgo tells us, the supply of food is going...fast.

During an economic downturn, many families struggle to put food on the table.

A new study by the Food Bank of the Southern Tier shows that more people in our region are seeking emergency assistance.

And with a 25% increase for demand, many families are seeking help for the first time.

"We're getting a lot of people saying I always used to donate to CHOW, now I have to ask for CHOW's help. And we say, well that's what we're here for. When you get back on your feet you can donate again. But more and more people are accessing our pantry's for the first time," says Ed Blaine, Director of CHOW.

The Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse says they've seen about 20% increase of people looking for groceries at their locations.

To meet that need, they added 2 new food pantries, one in Downtown Binghamton and another in Windsor.

Here at the Catholic Charities Food Pantry they say the food is practically flying off the shelves.

"The food leaves the shelves pretty quickly and it's really hard to keep them filled," says Fran Beazley, volunteer for Catholic Charities.

"It seems to me almost every day of the week we have an increase in the population that is in the position to need more food," says George Mayerhouse, volunteer for Catholic Charities.

Many volunteers are concerned about providing food for the upcoming holidays.

Catholic Charities has already filled all 2,200 orders for food baskets this Thanksgiving.

"This year we saw a 25% increase over last year. The need is very, very large," says Mary Gibson, volunteer for Catholic Charities.

While the study says many Southern Tier food banks are finding it difficult to meet the rising need, Binghamton area food banks hope the community will continue in doing what they can to help those in need this holiday season.

"The people are pretty generous in this area, those who can give food to us, they do," says Blaine.

Both CHOW and the Catholic Charities Food Banks are always accepting canned donations.

You can drop them off at either location.

CHOW is at 3 Otseningo Street in Binghamton, and Catholic Charities is at 100 Main Street in Binghamton.

To see the video:  http://www.wbng.com/news/local/68790792.html