HUNGRY AT THE FEAST

By ELAINE RIVERA/NEWPORT NEWS

The shipyards of Newport News, Va., are no longer the powerful job creators they used to be, but there is still lots of work to be had. The government employs a substantial number; telemarketers and computer makers have moved in; the regional unemployment rate is just 4.2%. But then there's this other statistic: over the past year, the local food bank reported a 69% increase in people requesting help.

Meanwhile, just to the north of Denver is Greeley, site of the state's school of education, strong-boned churches and the richly landscaped homes of Colorado's Front Range technocrats. Yet for the fiscal year that ended June 30, the demand for emergency food in Greeley shot up 50%.

Hunger in America in times of plenty? Second Harvest, the largest food-bank network in the country, says that about half its 183 food-distribution centers have reported increased demand over the past year. In a study the group produced with Tufts University, it says that with government accounting for only 13.4% of publicly distributed food (down from 22.2% in 1991), the private sector will have to make up for the shortfall by distributing a total of 24.5 billion lbs. of food in the next six years--enough to fill 5 million Army National Guard trucks. Second Harvest says it cannot possibly handle that increasing demand. Already some pantries have had to ration their dole-outs to families and single parents with children. Other organizations feel the impact as well. Share Our Strength, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, provides funding for more than 500 food-based groups. "Many of the agencies we support are seeing big jumps," says Bill Shore, the group's executive director. Phil Shanholtzer, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman, says the federal agency is hearing anecdotal evidence of food-demand increases through its state and regional offices. He says a report will be released by the USDA later this year assessing "food insecurity" in America.

Who are swelling the ranks of the hungry? Many are neither jobless nor homeless. "It's the working poor," says Leona Martens, director of the Weld Food Bank in Greeley. In the Colorado town, those asking for help range from seasonal farmworkers sidelined by bad weather to families hit by sudden expenses like doctor bills or new car batteries. Says Barbara Mocnik, executive director of a food bank in Newport News: "The job market is there. The income isn't." Many of the new part-time jobs in Newport News pay so little that they cannot cover basic expenses.

The Second Harvest study blames the increases on the onset of state and federal welfare reform. Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin food pantries reported increases; all three passed welfare-reform laws during the past two years. But the decline in middle-income jobs may be culpable as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows some of the largest gains in job growth among the lowest-paying categories. Poquoson, Va., resident Tim Strickland, 39, makes $25,000 a year. But last year he hurt his back and temporarily left his job as a water-treatment-plant operator. "I was living penny by penny," he says. Friends at a food pantry learned of his plight and sent groceries. Aledia Johnson of Newport News has a job as a corrections officer for Virginia. But she makes little more than minimum wage. Without the food pantry, she says, she would not be able to make ends meet. Says Johnson: "I have a mortgage to pay. I have to keep my car running. That's what gets me to work. And I have to pay for child care." She receives groceries from a share program at a local church, paying $14 for about $40 worth of food.

Some, however, see a freeloader factor at work. Robert Rector, who follows hunger issues for the Heritage Foundation, says, "As long as you are providing aid without requiring anything in return, the demand of that aid will be inexhaustible." Nevertheless, at least one food-bank manager believes the increased demand is just part of the adjustment that must occur as welfare reform takes hold, a necessary transition to better times. Parke Hinman, who runs a food bank in Montgomery, Ala., has seen demand rise to include families with wage earners. But, he says, "if we can provide them food, we may be the boost they need to work themselves out of the circle of poverty." Well and good, says Ann Eissler, who coordinates the area's food banks, but "we're going to need more agencies, more food, more warehouse space."

--With reporting by Leslie Everton Brice/Atlanta and Rita Healy/Denver

With reporting by LESLIE EVERTON BRICE/ATLANTA AND RITA HEALY/DENVER