Utahns helping — and need help

From data banks to food banks, Utah is a profile of contradictions this holiday season: More people are doing more to help out, yet people are resorting to using food banks at the highest rate in history.

Utah food banks, which were reporting shortages — both in the food on hand and helping hands to distribute it — are noting increases in both as the holiday season officially gets going but not enough to override a sense of pessimism since a study released in September that Utah's overall hunger gap is deepening.

"Somehow the efforts to help fill empty cupboard spaces has been taken to heart, from the combined efforts of single individuals to historic levels of corporate giving," said Amberlie Phillips of Utah Food Bank Services.

Reports from the food bank network of more than 300 service organizations for the poor are indicating a spike in the amount of giving is being matched by a spike in need.

An unprecedented donation of 300,000 unbaked loaves of sandwich bread will trim turkey dinners for thousands of homeless and needy families across the state this Thanksgiving. And on a smaller but equally earnest scale, KODJ 94.1 radio on Monday was closing in on a goal of gathering 941 pounds of food by 9 a.m. Wednesday.

"We're getting closer, but we could use a lot more help," said organizer Roy Ostendorf.

Area food pantries could, too. An initial bump in donations following the report of the first-ever needs assessment of the state's food pantry network has leveled off. It halted an unusually long slump in donations over the spring and summer but showed what some privately called an "alarming" rate of food insecurity throughout the state.

The study, conducted by the state's food service network and Utah State University, showed that the emergency food pantries in general aren't big enough, have inadequate storage facilities and have part-time staff trying to meet a full-time need.

According to program operators from the American Red Cross Food Banks and Services in St. George to the Cache Community Food Pantry in Logan, the need has a new trait — working families are showing up in much greater numbers.

Church-based assistance programs are showing a similar profile of need. In Davis County, for example, the Bountiful Community Food Pantry operated by the Bountiful Community Church is reporting a 600 percent increase in the number of requests for assistance over last year. Most are coming from families new to the area and looking for work.