West Virginia Families Bit By Hunger
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November 18, 2009
CHARLESTON, W. Va. - According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one in seven U.S. families is at risk of going hungry, the highest number in 14 years. That's almost 50 million people, including many West Virginians.
Since the downturn in the economy, food pantries and soup kitchens across the state have reported increases in demand that already had been high. Mountaineer Foodbank is the state's largest such facility, supplying a network of food pantries in 49 counties. Its executive director, Carla Nardella, says the head of one food pantry told her the number of families asking for food had nearly tripled.
"The lady who runs the pantry told me, 'I had to turn 45 families down because I had run out of food.'"
Nardella hopes more people in the state will volunteer to run food drives this winter, to help meet the growing need.
In the Eastern Panhandle, the Morgan County Starting Points Family Resource Center will hold its third annual "Empty Bowls" fundraising dinner this week. Director Audrey Morris says by October, they had already served as many hot meals as they did in all of 2008. To meet that need, she says, they want people to come to their benefit and pay $10 or $20 for a donated, handmade bowl.
"You choose a bowl and then get a soup kitchen style meal. If you want one of the bowls that were created by our local artists, those are $20."
Morris says the event also includes a silent auction. The Empty Bowls benefit is Friday, November 20, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Berkeley Springs High School, 149 Concord Ave., Berkeley Springs.