To the editor:
An article in today’s New York Times entitled “More Americans Are Going Hungry, And It Costs More to Feed Them” features a food pantry in Spanish Fork, Utah, but could just as easily be about Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
The People’s Pantry in Great Barrington now sees increases in the number of people needing help every month. Our clients tell us that working or not, they just can’t afford to feed themselves. Many of them have never needed any help before and find it difficult to accept their current situation.
The new issue that is driving this need is inflation. Gas, housing, shoes, toiletries are all more expensive than a year ago, but food outpaces them all. Based on recent government reports on consumer costs, the price of food has increased over 10 percent in the last year, the largest yearly increase since 1981!
At the same time that our client numbers have increased and the cost of the food we provide has increased our donations have decreased. Hunger is rarely a front-page story any more.
Here in the Berkshires it is easy to be unaware of the hunger in our community but it is real and it is growing. Pantries throughout the county are struggling to keep their doors wide open. We all need your help. We all want to keep serving people in need but we cannot do it without your support. Please help us help your neighbors. Help us be here in the future to help anyone who needs us.
Beth Moser
Great Barrington
