Economy Takes Toll In Fight Against Hunger

1 in 8 Vermont Adults Lack Food Security

WPTZ.com BURLINGTON, Vt. — –

Seventy-five thousand adult Vermonters now struggle to put food on the table this year, according to a new USDA report that suggests the state’s hunger problem is escalating faster than most other states.

“It’s getting worse,” said John Sayles, who runs the Vermont Food Bank in Barre. “A lot more people in Vermont are ‘food insecure’, they don’t have all the food they need to lead an active, healthy life.”

Count Will Pfleiderer among them. The 54-year old Burlington native said he’s relied on the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf ever since a disability sharply reduced his monthly income from jobs as a steelworker, and later, a cook.

“A lot of us do this,” Pfleiderer said, after receiving a monthly allocation of donated food, produce and bread from the Food Shelf Wednesday. “We do the best we can to get by, but it’s not easy.”

Pfleiderer said his skills acquired from years in the kitchen have taught him how to stretch staples into several meals. He looks for beans, rice, and fresh vegetables, when available.

Food Shelf Director Rob Meehan says he’s never seen such a surge in clients coming through his door as he has this fall, while at the same time, proceeds from area food donation drives are down. With six days remaining in the agency’s Thanksgiving turkey drive, only 650 of the 2,700 frozen birds needed has materialized.

“Some of our shelves are going to be bare today,” Meehan said. “We’re asking the community for support.”