Hunger Issues Said to Be Striking Maryland Suburbs

Between 7 and 13 percent of people in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.’s, wealthiest suburbs are unsure where they will get their next meal, according to a national report that has surprised some nonprofit groups that feed the hungry.

The report by the national hunger relief charity, Feeding America, provides county-by-county data, showing that those who are going hungry are not limited to poverty-stricken city centers.

“This data is eye opening for us, because it not only tells us where people in need of our services are, but it paints a totally different demographic picture of who it was we thought who we were serving,” said Deborah Flateman, CEO of  the Maryland Food Bank, who is also on the board of Feeding America. “We might really need to look at the suburbs.”

A total of 651,370 people, or 11.6 percent of Maryland’s population is “food insecure,” a term Feeding America researchers give to those who have limited access to nutritious foods.

Baltimore County--where the Maryland Food Bank is located--has 92,360 people the study classifies as “food insecure,” or 11.7 percent of the population.

Charitable groups across the state said the flood of the struggling suburban middle class seeking food donations comes as gas, housing and health care costs have increased. Families who have been fractured by divorce or job loss are also seeking help, advocates said.

Flateman noted that study results showed that the average cost of a meal in Maryland is $2.62--8 cents above the national average of $2.54.

In the past, researchers have used federal poverty data (a household income of $22,350 for a family of four) to determine the need for food at the local level.

The Feeding America study went further, using local income, unemployment, poverty, census and food cost data to show that nationally 45 percent of those who have gone hungry have incomes above the poverty level.

Howard and Montgomery counties, areas that have among the top 20 average median household incomes nationally, face 7.4 percent and 7.8 percent of people who are food insecure, respectively.

A man who recently sought help from the food pantry at the North Laurel-Savage Multiservice Center, which houses several social service agencies, had gone without eating solid food for two weeks following the loss of his job, said Sylvia Maldonado, a staff member at the center.

People with $50,000 to $60,000 incomes are among those seeking help from the center. It opened a satellite food bank March 1 to keep up with the increasing demand from people who make too much money to meet federal poverty guidelines and receive a variety of other social services, said Quinton Askew, a program coordinator at the Multiservice Center.

“We’ve been getting folks from the [information technology] industry, folks in the human services area and the medical field--nursing assistants,” he said.

Jeannine Andrews, 36, is among those who recently sought help from the Multiservice Center to help feed her five children.

Andrews, who lives in Laurel with her children and her husband, a UPS driver, said scraping together enough money for their approximately $250-a-week food bill became difficult once they moved into a three-bedroom townhome with a $1,600-per-month rent.

She said it was the only place the family could find after her and her husband’s credit was destroyed by health care bills and a near foreclosure on a home they recently sold.

“There were times where I didn’t know, well, what are we going to eat?” she said. “What are we going to eat Friday?”

Andrews said she has struggled with sleeping, and her heart has raced at times as she has grappled with how to feed her family.

“I’ll notice some of my hair falling out around the temples,” she said. “I pray a lot, but I also think, what can I be doing?”

She said she started seeking help from the food bank after a neighbor suggested it. Her family has filled the gap, she said, with donated chicken, frozen strawberries and, occasionally, diapers.

Social workers in Prince George’s County, with 110,770 who are struggling to get enough food, started a program in August to get healthy food to residents who are above the federal poverty line, said Lavette Sims, a spokeswoman for Prince George’s County Department of Social Services.

The program, called “Mission Nutrition,” is a mobile food pantry containing fresh produce offered free, regardless of income, Sims said.

“We have a number of people who, for whatever reason, don’t typically go to a pantry, and for pride’s sake wouldn’t come,” she said. “We called it ‘Mission Nutrition’ so not to have so many barriers for folks.”

In Carroll County, where 8.4 percent, or 14,270 people, have trouble regularly accessing nutritious foods, food bank workers said summer is a time of high demand for those who need to feed children who are out of school all three meals.

The food pantry portion of the Salvation Army’s Carroll County unit helps about 55 families a month, said director Janice Veney.

Though the pantry, as of late, has enough food to keep up with the demand, Veney said there have been times in the past when families seeking bags of groceries will get fewer than usual.

“It’s been tough for our families in Carroll County, and it’s been tough for us to help with that demand,” she said. “The sooner we get food in the faster it goes out.”