NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – Christmas is a busy time at the Christian Bible Church, especially for Charlotte David.

David, volunteer director of the church’s food pantry, says there’s a rush toward the end of every month when people’s cash and food stamps run out.

“They’re divorced, they’re on disability, they’re on welfare, there aren’t enough food stamps,” she said in an interview this week. “These people are very, very needy.”

The panty helped 356 people – nearly half of them children – in 102 households last month. This month, David expects to serve 120 families or more.

Workers and managers of area food pantries and soup kitchens say demand is greater than ever as low-income families struggle with higher heating bills, higher rent, job losses and limits on government assistance.

The New Hampshire Food Bank provided 2.5 million pounds of food to about 200 pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and programs for children and seniors across the state in 2000. This year, it will distribute nearly 4 million pounds of food to about 350 member agencies, said Erin Chamberlin, director of program services.

An estimated 38.2 million Americans, including 13.8 million children, live with “food insecurity,” meaning they either go hungry or don’t know how they will get their next meal, according to federal statistics.

“The figures have been on the rise for five straight years, and this year we saw a 12 percent increase. That’s the largest increase since 2000 – and that was before the hurricane season,” said Maura Daley, spokeswoman for America’s Second Harvest, which distributes U.S. Department of Agriculture commodities and donations from food manufacturers to its national network of food banks.

In New Hampshire, about 80,000 people live at or below the federal poverty level, Chamberlin said. While they qualify for government assistance, it often is not enough.

Ed Tirrell, 30, of Nashua, comes to the church pantry when his food stamps run out. He once worked as an assistant manager at the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, but had to quit when the work aggravated back injuries and a paralyzed leg he suffered in a car accident. Now he finds himself among those needing help.

“I loved it,” he said of his former job. “I still volunteer when they need me. But it just hurt too much to walk and I had to go on disability.”

More and more working families need help with food because they earn too much to qualify for government aid but too little to cover basic expenses, Chamberlin said.

“The main population that’s growing in these food pantries is the working poor,” she said. “They just can’t get by.”

Some have lost manufacturing jobs and moved to retail or other service jobs with lower pay and fewer benefits, she said.

“With manufacturing, you’d be better off raising a family. These service jobs, with the crazy hours you have to keep and paying for day care, they’re definitely a hard way to make a living,” Chamberlin said. “There simply aren’t as many job opportunities now for undereducated people.”

Anne Skidmore, who runs the food pantry at the Salvation Army in Concord, says many of her clients are elderly. They don’t qualify for as much food stamp assistance as families with children, she said.

“I have elderly people come in who get $10 a month and they’re living on Social Security,” she said. “Why is it these elderly people can’t get what they need?”

For the first time this year, New Hampshire participated in a massive study by America’s Second Harvest. Results should be available in February. The last study four years ago showed that about 80 percent of people using food pantries and soup kitchens were “food insecure,” and the rest were on the cusp, said Halley Aldeen, director of research.

For those in need, there was one piece of good news this week: A proposal to cut $650 million from the federal food stamp program was dropped in the U.S. House. But new restrictions on Medicaid and Medicare were not, which could mean trouble ahead.

“The loss of a job, a car breaking down, unexpected medical bills – any one of those things could push our clients over the line really quickly,” Aldeen said.

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On the Net:

New Hampshire Food Bank: http://www.nhfoodbank.org/

America’s Second Harvest: http://www.secondharvest.org/

AP-ES-12-22-05 1312EST