Housing costs are compounding pump and food prices. Rent in Salt Lake City averages $803 a month, up nearly 10 percent over the past year, the research firm RealFacts reported. The rising rent prices come as one in 25 Utah homeowners are projected to be in foreclosure in the next two years, based on the number of subprime loans here, according to a report last week by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Utah's job growth for March is up 2.1 percent. But the construction industry lost jobs — more than 2,100 in the past year, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Herrera says many of those former workers are coming to her pantry.

Some also may be turning to food stamps, which Utahns Against Hunger says is necessary, because people cannot rely for long on emergency food pantries, which often limit their visits to just a couple of times a month.

Utahns spent a record $13 million worth of food stamps in March, up from $11.7 million in February, Department of Workforce Services spokesman Curt Stewart said.

While more people are using and receiving more federal money than they used to under the program, they also may have spent February allotments in March, leading to the record-breaking number, he said.

Greater need for help

Along with the increased use of food stamps, the number of calls for food assistance has doubled in the past year, the Utah Food Bank reports. In the first quarter of 2007, the food bank's 2-1-1 Information and Referral program, which aims to link people to various services, took 1,011 calls from people seeking food assistance. That number skyrocketed to 2,060 calls this year, Food Bank spokeswoman Jessica Pugh said.

Crossroads fed 1,469 families, and Hildegarde's helped 1,184, in March alone. Salt Lake County's other 24 pantries served thousands of others.

Aid trends are unknown for the Bishops' Storehouse, a regional food pantry service of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to which anti-hunger advocates say many turn in crisis. Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the church considers such information confidential.

Despite the increasing demand, the Food Bank says its donations are up, even though everyone's feeling the pinch. The Scouting For Food drive yielded 600,000 pounds of food, a 20 percent increase from last year, Pugh said.

But Tibbitts wonders if donations can continue to keep pace with need.

Rev. Libby Hunter, deacon at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, said Hildegarde's Pantry has seen a substantial increase in the number of people coming in.

"I think in Utah we tend to believe sometimes we're really different than the United States," she said. "We're protected and sheltered and we're not like them. But we really are."

Looking ahead

Food prices are not likely to come down any time soon, Wells Fargo economist Kelly Matthews said last week.