By Laura Rivera
Newsday
December 20, 2007
With two sons, no job and a difficult living situation, a 39-year-old resident of a Roosevelt domestic violence shelter said she's been hard pressed to feed her family for the past six months.
But since she discovered the Food Mobile, an aging truck that dispenses groceries to hungry Roosevelt residents each week, she's picked up enough pasta, dried peas and other staples to eat for that week.
"It's tough," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used. "I'm very thankful for what they're doing."
About two dozen people stopped at the Food Mobile in the frigid morning yesterday, just a few of the faces behind an alarming spike in food requests from major hunger relief organizations this season.
Long Island Cares / the Harry Chapin Food Bank and Island Harvest, a food rescue group, are reporting a 42 percent increase in demand for food over last year among some of the nearly 800 nonprofit community groups they serve.
"The old story that it's only the homeless who are hungry, that's not the case here on Long Island," said Robin Amato, director of development for Long Island Cares. "You're seeing people that go to the food pantry you've never seen before."
Nearly half of emergency food aid recipients on Long Island come from households with at least one employed adult, according to a 2006 study by America's Second Harvest Network. More than half are women.
And donations are not keeping pace with need. Island Harvest is predicting a food shortage of more than 195,000 meals by year's end.
"It just feels like there are a lot more people closer to the edge than they have been in the past," said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and chief executive of Island Harvest.
Among the people who picked up bags of donations yesterday at the Food Mobile was Willie Harris, who does work for a nearby coffee shop. Harris, who could not speak because of a tracheotomy, patted a volunteer on the back to show his appreciation.
The Food Mobile is run by Word of Life, a nondenominational church in Freeport that has distributed more than 100,000 pounds of food from Island Harvest this year.
Two years ago, volunteer Celine Rousseau was homeless and hungry. Now that she has a home, she makes the ride to Roosevelt each week. "I was lost and hungry, so I'd like to give back to somebody," said Rousseau, 46, of Bay Shore.
As requested by Island Harvest, the church gives food with no strings attached. But for the willing, members dispense prayers. Secular agencies such as the Interfaith Nutrition Network do not offer religious material.
Hilda Calderon, 22, approached the Food Mobile yesterday wearing plastic sandals and a hooded sweat shirt. She said she'd arrived from Honduras 15 days ago, after a trip lasting a month and eight days.
"I went hungry," she said as she walked away, carrying three bags of food.
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