By RUPA SHENOY
Associated Press Writer

As millions of American families gathered to give thanks for what they have, food banks, soup kitchens and shelters across the country struggled to cope with a spike in demand for their services this Thanksgiving. With more people feeling the weight of the economic downturn, those who oversee the charities say they are seeing many new faces on food lines.

“Food bank after food bank tells me it’s new faces, people they haven’t seen before,” said Ross Fraser, spokesman for Feed America, a Chicago-based charity that coordinates corporate donations to more than 200 U.S. food banks. “They will tell you it’s the worst it’s ever been.”
“Starting about a year ago, we’ve seen a very significant spike in the demand,” Fraser said. “It used to be the poorest of the poor who came to us for help.” But higher food prices are affecting the working poor “and the needle is moving up in terms of the income we’re starting to serve,” he said.
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank released its 2008 “Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island” during a press conference at the agency’s Niantic Avenue headquarters in Providence on Monday.
Joined by Congressman James Langevin, the Food Bank released its report examining the impact of the struggling economy, the rising cost of food and the growing demand for food assistance across the state. In addition, the report documents the extent of food insecurity and hunger in Rhode Island and provides recommendations to improve access to additional food resources for those in need.
“Right now, we are all feeling the effects of the economic downturn,” began Andrew Schiff, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “But, the people served by the Food Bank and its network of  member agencies are hurting the most and the numbers are staggering — almost 11 percent of Rhode Island’s households do not have enough to eat.”
While the Food Bank has grown to distribute more than 8 million pounds of food each year, improving enrollment in government sponsored nutrition programs is vital. “We need to ensure that people in need have access to every nutrition resource available,” added Schiff. “Making full and better use of government nutrition programs including food stamps, WIC and School Meals will not only put food on the table of families who need it most, it would also generate millions of dollars in additional aid from Washington.”
Currently, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank is feeding 40,000 Rhode Islanders each month through a network of 285 certified member agency programs. This reflects a 12 percent increase over last year. In the last year, emergency food programs of the Food Bank served 10 million meals to Rhode Islanders in need.
That troubling trend is being seen from coast to coast. The Greater Chicago Food Depository, that city’s food bank, has seen a 33 percent increase in food pantry demand from July to September of 2008, compared to the same period last year, said spokesman Bob Dolgan.
“Our network is strained right now,” Dolgan said. “Our most successful pantries ... are having to turn people away.”
Donations to the Salvation Army in the Washington, D.C., area have dropped 20 percent, while the agency grapples with a 30 percent increase in requests for assistance, said Maj. Steve Morris, the organization’s area commander.
The Capital Area Food Bank, Washington’s primary distribution center for food agencies, said calls from needy residents have jumped nearly 250 percent in the past six months. But cash donations are down about 10 percent from last fall, and food contributions have declined 15 percent.
The Food Bank of Alaska in Anchorage dipped into its Christmas reserves to make sure everyone seeking Thanksgiving Day donations received them. The food bank handed out turkey dinners Monday to 5,787 people at eight sites, about one-third more than last year’s 4,237.
“I’m not worried about the Christmas stock today,” she said. “That’s a problem for Monday. What’s important is that we didn’t turn anybody away.”
Restaurateur Francisco Garcia, who hosts an annual dinner for locals in Anaheim, Calif., said he expected to feed as many as 15,000 people on Thursday without any trouble and hoped to give leftovers to the homeless and elderly.
But he said fundraising for the event was more challenging this year as donors, hard-hit by the economic downturn and job losses, scaled back their contributions.
“Everybody is giving about half or a quarter of what they did before,” said Garcia, who has compensated by seeking in-kind donations and using money from his restaurant.
At the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles, organizers expected to feed between 2,000 and 3,000 families Thursday. Since the year began, the number of people seeking food or transitional housing has jumped at least 15 percent, said Tom Jordan, executive vice president of the Mission.
In Rhode Island, officials announced Monday that despite the Report’s troubling findings, help is on the way. Through the efforts of Congressman Langevin, and others, the recently enacted Farm Bill will deliver additional resources for struggling Americans in 2009. As part of the Bill, Congress has doubled the amount of USDA food allotted to Rhode Island’s emergency food programs. “This Report is a wake-up call for all of us,” said Langevin. “The problem of hunger is great and we all need to do what we can to bring attention to this solvable issue. I am proud of our work on the Farm Bill and what it will mean for thousands of families here in the Ocean State, but we need to do more,” concluded Langevin.
“With the state of the nation, the way the economy is, so many people are scrambling just to stay afloat,” Jordan said.
Jeremy Reynalds, chief executive of Joy Junction shelter in Albuquerque, N.M., said the troubled economy has doubled the number of residents seeking shelter, while average donations have been cut in half.
“We’re working twice as hard to get more donors, who are giving less. The average Joe doesn’t have any disposable income to give. The word that’s going around for 2009 is to target your richer or more well-off donors because the others don’t have a penny to give,” Reynalds said.

With Call staff reports. Associated Press writers from across the country contributed to this report.