Demand for holiday food boxes remains high as food stamps cuts take toll

Phil Virgin, a volunteer with St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Vancouver, helps load a Thanksgiving food box into Shannon Hardman's vehicle. Hardman, an Orchards resident, was laid off from her job as an office manager in August. (Yuxing Zheng/The Oregonian)

VANCOUVER -- About 10 people huddled in the 35-degree chill Tuesday morning in Vancouver, half an hour before the doors were set to open.
They weren’t queueing for the latest video game console or Black Friday sale. They were waiting for eggs, milk, carrots, potatoes, apples, a turkey and other ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal. Each of the prized 2½-by-1½ foot cardboard boxes handed out by St. Vincent de Paul of Brush Prairie contained everything that 105 local families will be gathering around Thursday evening.
“It would be depressing and very broke without this. We wouldn’t have anything,” said Orchards resident Shannon Hardman, who picked up a food box for her husband and 14-year-old daughter at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. “With this, we have the basics.”

Help for Thanksgiving

Most agencies have handed out their food boxes. To find a free Thanksgiving Day meal and other holiday options, go to oregonlive.com/events. Search the Entertainment Listings on the right-hand side for "Thanksgiving."

Despite encouraging employment statistics touted by optimistic public officials, there is little -- if any -- trickle-down of the slow economic recovery that area residents living on the margins feel this holiday season. Many remain jobless, work less than full-time or earn less than they did five years ago. Many remain hungry. The federal government’s cuts to food stamps that went into effect this month, combined with the lateness of Thanksgiving this year, contributed to heavy demand for holiday food boxes, Portland area food bank officials said. More than one in five Oregonians still relies on government food aid, including many whose benefits ran out more than a week ago.
Hardman’s hours as an office manager at a recycling depot were cut for a year before she was laid off in August. Her husband is also working fewer hours as a grounds manager. Meanwhile, her family’s food stamps were reduced from $37 in October to $14 in November.
“It’s enough to buy milk, a loaf of bread, eggs and a bag of potatoes,” she said. “This year, it’s been really hard.”
On Tuesday, about a dozen volunteers with the local conference of St. Vincent De Paul gathered at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church to hand out food, toiletries and a much-needed dose of holiday cheer to a steady stream of their hungry neighbors.
“Have a Happy Thanksgiving!” volunteer Ted Holcombe said as he hoisted a turkey into a recipient’s cart. By 10 a.m., half the boxes were gone.

View full sizeAllyn Rapcinski (left, at table) and Kathy Venhuis, both volunteers with St. Vincent de Paul of Brush Prairie, catch up during a brief lull during a busy morning handing out Thanksgiving food boxes. Yuxing Zheng/The Oregonian

St. Vincent de Paul at St. John’s began offering the food boxes in mid-October, and they were all spoken for within two weeks, said Kathy Venhuis, the self-proclaimed “turkey lady” who has organized the Thanksgiving food boxes for about a decade. A year ago, about 25 families would visit the church’s food pantry each day, but 37 families showed up Friday and another 41 families showed up Monday, she said.
“There’s so much more poverty and need out there,” she said. “Us private agencies are trying to pick up the slack for what the government isn’t doing.”
Savannah Hickok of Vancouver used to receive $900 a month for food stamps for a household of six, including three children. The $600 she received this month, after the cuts, ran out last Friday, two and a half weeks before she receives the next installment. She’s considering borrowing money from her mother, she said as she picked up a food box.
Plenty of those picking up boxes declined to be interviewed.
“I don’t want people to know how bad off I am,” one man said.
“I work for the school district. I don’t want people knowing,” one woman said.
The continuing high demand for food worries pantry officials who find increasingly empty shelves and dwindling reserves. Holiday food drive contributions usually last through the spring at SnowCap, a Gresham agency that serves Multnomah County residents east of 82nd Avenue, but that might not last this year, said Judy Alley, executive director.
“If we have to use them all up at this higher rate of consumption, we’re not going to have enough,” she said. “People rarely think of doing food drives in April.”
The food pantry helped about 120 families a day this month, compared to about 100 families a day last November, she said.
Those who receive charitable food aid say they’re appreciative of the help they receive to pull together a holiday meal. Tamisha Mallon of Hazel Dell said she and her six children ran through their $700 in food stamps in the middle of the month.
“My kids love celebrating the holidays,” she said. “If they didn’t have the help here, a lot of people would be suffering.”
-- Yuxing Zheng