
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994                   TAG: 9410180121
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

FOOD PANTRIES BARER THIS WINTER

Food pantries across the country say they will have to turn away hungry Americans this winter as the federal government cuts its contributions to their shelves.

The Agriculture Department, in a money-saving move proposed by the Clinton administration, will spend $25 million this fiscal year to supply food banks and other programs for the poor with flour, corn meal, canned vegetables, fruits and meats.

Last year, USDA distributed $80 million in purchased commodities under the Emergency Food Assistance Program, once known for the great cheese and butter giveaways of the 1980s.

``The impact [of the cuts] is going to be very dramatic,'' said Dick Goebel, executive director of the Second Harvest St. Paul Food Bank in Minnesota.

Goebel said he is especially concerned about rural food banks nationwide, as well as in his own state, because federal commodities tend to account for a high percentage of the food they distribute.

Instead of running full time, they may decide to open only a couple of days a week and to lay off some workers, he said.

Food bank directors say they cannot expect the private sector to make up for the loss in commodities because donations from manufacturers and grocers are declining because of greater efficiency and less waste.

At the same time, poverty is on the rise, and food bank directors say growing numbers of families with children and the working poor are turning to local pantries for a bag of groceries.

A study earlier this year by Second Harvest, a nationwide network of food banks, found that nearly 26 million Americans rely on food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding programs.

by CNB