Economy putting pressure on Thanksgiving food ministries

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (ABP) — Economic hard times are putting pressure on charities scrambling to meet rising need this Thanksgiving.

"I wouldn't call it a pinch. I would call it Jaws of Life," Dan Shorter, who co-directs a "Feed the Hungry" program at The Village Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Fla., described the impact of lagging donations, rising costs and increased demand.

"We've been doing this for 21 years and we've never had harder times," Shorter said in a telephone interview. "We've never seen such widespread need."

Shorter said the ministry fed and average of 850 families a month from January through October but expects to feed more than 3,000 for Thanksgiving. He said he has had to pay five times as much for food compared to last year.

"We're basically broke," he said. "We may have to cancel Christmas this year."

Demand has jumped 

Mission Arlington , a ministry of First Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, says demand for food assistance has jumped 9 percent in the last couple of months. Last year Mission Arlington provided food for about 17,000 people on Thanksgiving Day. This year, because of economic troubles affecting everyone, the ministry is expecting the need for help to increase.

"We'll be feeding probably 20,000 people," Mission Arlington Executive Director Tillie Burgin said. It takes about 4,500 turkeys to feed that many people, and as of Wednesday Burgin said it looked like there would be enough food for Thanksgiving Day.

"We are doing great," she said of food donations. "We're just blessed."

Burgin said she didn't want people to stop giving, however. "We've got Christmas and lot's more to do," she said. "We won't have any left over, that's for sure." She said people wanting to make a last-minute contribution can call 817-277-6620.

Steve Poole, minister of music and worship at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Bel Air, Md., said his congregation has been feeling the effects of economic struggles, including an increase in its food ministries.

Poole said mission groups typically prepare Thanksgiving baskets of food for families in need. Last year the congregation set a goal to provide 75 baskets to families to commemorate the church's 75th anniversary.

Turning families away 

"It was actually a little difficult to find that many families within our church that needed the help," Poole said. "This year we had to start turning families away after we reached one hundred requests."

Poole said the church's benevolence committee has more requests each week than they can handle. "People are feeling the pain of the economic downturn, but God continues to bless our church with the provisions to fulfill His calling for our church," he said.

Shorter said it "will take an act of God" for his Florida congregation to meet its goal of helping 4,000 families and giving toys to 3,000 needy kids at Christmas. Economic forces of the first 11 months of the year "haven't pinched us," he said. "They have crushed us."

In an effort to stretch resources, he said the ministry — unlike previous years — is not handing out turkeys this Thanksgiving, but rather giving families chicken and pork patties.

"No one's happy about it," Shorter said, but he can feed three families chicken or pork for the cost of one turkey.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.