By: Elizabeth Corridan

SPRINGFIELD/HATFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) -- More and more Americans are going hungry.  While there have been signs of economic recovery, according to the Department of Agriculture, 17 million people cannot afford adequate food.  That is an 11.1 percent increase over last year. 

At the Open Pantry Emergency Food Pantry in Springfield it is a race to keep up.  Program Director Candace Larger says they’ve seen a 17 percent increase in volume and are servicing an average of 100 families a day. “I’ve never see it quite this bad in a long time,” says Larger.

The surge in demand is universal across the region.  The Western Massachusetts Food Bank is working in overdrive to keep the shelves stocked at over 400 pantries and kitchens in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin and Berkshire Counties.  Executive Director Andrew Morehouse says, “We’re expecting it to continue to increase now that more people are being laid off, not being able to find adequate income to meet their family’s needs.”

Food pantries were designed for emergency situations where families could go in a pinch to help make ends meet.  In the current economic climate, they are being used increasingly as a constant source of food.  Morehouse says, “People need to know food banks were not designed to meet the chronic need for emergency food.”

Along with restocking the shelves, staff at the Food Bank is helping more families apply for food stamps.  According to Morehouse, food stamps are a way to reduce the pressure on the food banks and provide an effective way for people to go to supermarkets and use a debit card to by groceries.  When people stop shopping at the area’s food pantries and start shopping at grocery stores with food stamps money will trickle into the economy. For that reason, Morehouse calls food stamps a great source of economic stimulus.

For more information on local food pantries log onto www.foodbankwma.org

For more information on food stamps long onto www.fns.usda.gov/FSP/