America boasts an amazing array of food choices for consumers in large supermarkets stocking close to forty thousand food items. Which cereals, what cheeses, the large yogurt or small ones, organic chicken or factory farmed, choices to make your head spin after a long day at work. But consider the choices facing the thirty eight million people who reported they were “food insecure” in 2005. (In 2006, the US Department of Agriculture decided “hungry” was too broad a descriptor and began to use the term “food insecure” to describe people who visit a food pantry because they have no food).

Will came to Family’s Woodstock Food Pantry recently, reporting he was out of work due to an injury and had no food at all. His wife has been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. They have two small children. Will was thinking about applying for Food Stamps, but he was sure he would be back to work soon. He would have had money for food, but his last check from work wasn’t due for another week. His wife required a new medication and that took the last of his cash. A Family volunteer gave Will three to four days of meals, carefully selecting cereals, proteins, vegetables and soups from the shelves. The volunteer encouraged Will to think again about Food Stamps. “What has really changed over the years,” observes Sue Carroll, Assistant Director at the Woodstock Center, “is that now almost everyone who comes to the Food Pantry is working.”

According to Sue Barnes, Ulster County’s Food Stamp Program Coordinator, too many eligible people are not getting the government’s nutritional supplement funds. The program estimates that, nationally, more than forty percent of eligible individuals aren’t getting Food Stamps. Applicants can now apply at satellite offices in towns around the county as well as at the main office in Kingston. “We keep making the application process more accessible. We want to especially encourage more seniors to apply. People are proud and that’s a barrier to seeking help. Food Stamps are seen as a welfare program with all the stigma that comes along with that. Most people would be surprised to learn that eighty-five percent of Food Stamp recipients are working. It is a total reversal of the situation in the 1990’s.”

Kathy Cartagena, Program Director at Family in New Paltz, met with a woman whose home is being foreclosed. “She was hoping Family could help her make the “choice” to pay her mortgage by providing food for her family. “It is terrible,” says Catagena. “Whether the loss is a mobile home, a small house or an apartment all the saving, all the borrowing of money from family, all the sweat equity is in vain. A co-pay for medical treatment or a prescription, dental care, eyeglasses, electricity, home heating fuel, gas, car repairs, child care, school expenses are all realities that need to be met. Can one imagine how difficult it is for a mother to say no to a child when it is picture time at school or the school book fair? Where does food fit into this budget?”

Family has a community food pantry at each of its walk-in centers. The domestic violence and homeless shelters have pantry services for former residents. Each has restricted the use of the pantry to once a month in order to make sure supplies last.

Family stocks its shelves with food purchased at sixteen cents a pound from the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley in Cornwall-on-Hudson and with donations from any number of local food drives. Family receives funds from the federal government through FEMA, specifically to purchase food. In recent years, smaller, part-time food pantries have opened in religious centers and other organizations, taking some of the pressure from Family’s pantries. The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley now services one thousand food programs, providing commodities, donated foods from commercial producers and fresh produce. Many people make use of all the pantries in their area to keep their families fed.

The Food Stamp program is also part of the emergency food network. Families who find themselves without food can apply for expedited Food Stamps to receive benefits immediately. “When someone walks through the door they’re not hungry in thirty days, they’re hungry today,” says Sue Barnes emphatically. “I try to stress that with my staff and I get a lot compliments about their helpfulness.” Barnes likes to surprise people by pointing out the economic benefits of her program. “For every one billion dollars in retail purchases, Food Stamps generate $340 million in farm production and 3,300 farm jobs. Each five dollars generates double its value in economic activity.”

Hunger in Ulster County is on the rise. Across the country, the number of families visiting a food pantry at some point in the year continues to climb. The most recent USDA survey states that twelve percent of America’s households are “food insecure.” Statistics collected at each of Family’s food pantries show a dramatic increase in the last year alone. The greatest increases were in Ellenville, more than thirty percent in 2006. Hard hit by multiple factory and hotel closures. Over the past decade, the 3,500 people served by Family of Ellenville’s Food Pantry included almost 1,500 children. “It’s a big part of what we are doing,” says Program Director Lisa Cavanaugh. “We handle tons of food. Last Monday by noon, we had put together food packages for twelve families. If we have time, we invite them in to talk. It’s a chance to see what else is going on and help them apply for any benefits.”

Stocking Family’s food pantries and food storage is a major issue for the walk-in centers. Monthly trips to the Food Bank require a large vehicle and muscle for loading and unloading. The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley's network distributed just under twenty million pounds of food in 2006. Its newly expanded "Produce for a Healthier Hudson Valley" initiative now distributes more than 450,000 pounds of good quality produce. "We wish we could handle more of the fresh fruits and vegetables," observes Sue Carroll in Woodstock. "We have limited refrigeration and we have to distribute the produce within a few days of getting it."

Family has used donated storage, expanded the pantries in its buildings, and enlisted the help of volunteers and town governments to help keep its shelves stocked. Family food pantries receive donations from many religious groups, scouts, restaurants, bakeries and individuals who add items for the pantries to their shopping lists on a regular basis. "Donations are so important," says Carroll. "Our food drives give us much needed cash to purchase meats, foods without additives and low fat items. We ask people to think about healthy food choices when they go into the supermarket. We are amazed at how generous they are when they come out."