Bridgewater food bank hit by growing demand, money crunch

The Bridgewater Inter-Church food bank is facing escalating demand for food, just as it feels a financial pinch thats forced it to dip into savings to make ends meet.

Last year there were 6,716 visits to the food bank, nearly 1,000 more than the year before. Food bank coordinator Gloria Hubley says she expects that number to continue to rise.

Staff at the food bank interview each person who comes through the door and are able to catalogue their particular circumstances. Its a barometer of some of the economic ailments facing this region of the South.

Hubleysays the closure of Brooklyn'sBowaterMerseyPaper Companyin 2012 was felt inLunenburgCounty, as was the pull-out ofZellersfrom theBridgewaterMall. Former workers from both those operations are now beginning to trickle in for help.

In other cases high rent and the use of electricity to heat homes has pushed bills beyond the means of families, say food bank volunteers. Some people using the food bank are employed, but part-time work appears to be replacing full-time jobs.

Another telling sign: the number people in their late teens and early20swho are coming for food.

"We have all age groups, but there are a lot of young people that just, for one reason or another, just cannot find work, cannot find anything," says Carole Tunnah, a food bank volunteer.

"A lot of them havent really finished their education and just were never successful in school. Their employment record is not good."

The charity is also facing financial difficulties and revenues are not meeting costs. As of September, the food bank has brought in just $33,146, while expenses hit more than $55,000.

If donations dont pick up, the fear is the food bank will have to knock back its opening hours from two afternoons a week, or place new limits on how much food each client and family receives.

"I dont really expect that to happen because Bridgewater is a very generous community and we will try to raise that money," Hubley said.

Allen Wentzell now visits the food bank and says the seasonal work he relies on is drying up, and a back injury is limiting the jobs he can do.

"There is people out there trying to work and trying to find work," Wentzel said. "There's just no work in Bridgewater."