Antihunger Groups See Empty Shelves
October 18, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
A delay by Congress in passing a farm bill and sharp declines in federal food donations have hurt food banks and hunger-relief organizations, reports The New York Times.
Donations have not increased since 2002, the newspaper says, although food banks continue to see an increase in the number of people seeking assistance. A federal program that purchases extra crops from farmers and donates the surplus to food banks has significantly decreased, from 251-million pounds in 2003 to 89-million pounds last year.
The severe reductions have had an impact not only on local food banks but also on some of nation’s largest hunger-relief providers, including America’s Second Harvest.
Says Lucy Cabrera, president of the Food Bank, in New York, “It’s the first time in a few years that I could walk into the warehouse and see empty shelves.”
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