Manatee food bank says demand outstripping supply

Cindy Sloan, manager of the food bank, says donations are at an all-time low.

BRADENTON (Bay News 9) -- Requests for help at a Manatee County food bank are on the rise, but donations are down, leaving supplies at an all-time low.

Bare shelves line the packaging room at the Food Bank of Manatee The organization's warehouse, which is usually stacked to the ceiling with non-perishables, is near empty.

"It's supply and demand," said Cindy Sloan, manager of the food bank. "There's more supply than demand."

She said the demand is starting to come from an unlikely source - families who usually not only provide for themselves, but donate to others as well.

Cristy Rae Ansley's family is in that situation.

"I'd always given, I'd always dropped off the canned goods. I'd always paid the dues at work," she said.

Ansley now finds herself on the other side of the donation box. Her husband was laid off, and the bills were piling up.

"I called them and asked for assistance because I just didn't know how I was gonna feed the kids," she said.

The Ansleys said they are still trying to give - they are just doing it in a different way. Stephanie Ansley, 16, is volunteering at the food bank.

"When you're my age, you really don't, you know people are out there hungry and stuff but you don't know how much work is put into it until you go there and do it yourself," she said.

The Ansley family is not alone in their struggle. Sloan said food banks and food pantries across the country are bombarded with requests.

Food bank officials are finding ways to make the food they do have last as long as possible. For instance, they are not putting quite as many items in the boxes that go to families.

They are also starting a new campaign called "Manatee Can." Officials hope area businesses will hold drives to help fill the need.

However, Sloan says that, unless donations pick up, in the current economic climate, many struggling families will be forced go to without.

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