THE NEW ECONOMY: Homeless services BLOOMINGTON - The shelves are so bare in the Home Sweet Home Ministries food pantry, Sabrina Burkiewicz has seen parts of the wall she's never seen before.

The Salvation Army has had so many requests for food boxes, officials decided not to distribute Thanksgiving baskets this year in hopes they will have enough food to fill requests for Christmas baskets.

"We've served four or five times the number of people in the food pantry as we did in 2007, said Salvation Army spokeswoman Andrea Raycraft. "Our shelves are bare. They've never been bare this long."

The downturn of the economy has forced more people to seek help feeding their families but it also has reduced the number of donations the two agencies receive.

"We're seeing a lot of new people … and more families," said Burkiewicz, spokeswoman for Home Sweet Home. "A couple of times we've had so many people for meals, some had to sit in the hallway."

Home Sweet Home, 303 E. Oakland Ave., has seen a substantial increase in the number of people who take part in its free lunches and dinners since the unemployment rate went from 5.2 percent in September 2007 to 6.9 percent this September, Burkiewicz said.

"In the third quarter of 2007, we served 15,630 meals and distributed 127 food boxes," she said. "In the third quarter of 2008, we served 18,142 meals and distributed 271 food boxes."

Downsizing food boxes

The Salvation Army, 611 W. Washington St., had passed out as many food boxes by April this year as it did all of 2007, Raycraft said.

With shelves going bare, Raycraft said the agency has had to downsize what is included in the food boxes.

Midwest Food Bank, 1703 S. Veterans Parkway, which provides food to the two agencies as well as hundreds of others in Central Illinois, has stepped up its help, said Steve McCane, director of operations.

"We've worked with Salvation Army and Home Sweet Home more frequently," he said.

Typically, food pantries only get supplies from Midwest once a month. McCane said the two pantries, and a few more locally, now are getting supplies nearly weekly.

One reason is a new partnership between Midwest and local Jewel and Kroger stores that give Midwest near-expiration meat, dairy and produce.

"It's a blessing that it happened at this time," said Mike Meece, recently hired as the food bank's administrator. "It augments what we've been able to do. We're not sure what's going to happen in coming months, but we'll continue to be as adaptive as we can."

Burkiewicz and Raycraft continue to look for ways to raise money and fill their pantries. Home Sweet Home has teamed with Upper Limits rock climbing gym on a canned food drive through Nov. 15.

Raycraft mailed churches and schools about The Salvation Army's "dire need of nonperishable items." A food drive competition at Twin City schools runs through Dec. 8.

Contact The Salvation Army at (309) 829-9476. Contact Home Sweet Home Ministries at (309) 828-7356. Contact Midwest Food Bank at (309) 663-5350.