LEWISTON — As Maine families gather Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, more will be eating meals at least partially subsidized by the federal government.

Nearly 20,000 more Mainers are receiving benefits through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, according to the latest government data.

Nationwide, another 13.7 million Americans depend on federal help to put food on their tables.

Thousands of other Mainers will depend on a meal from a local food pantry, soup kitchen or other charity.

According to public officials and charitable agency volunteers, the holiday demand this year will be as high as it’s been in decades.

“It is a factor of the amount of money people have to live on,” said Barbara VanBurgel of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

VanBurgel, director of the DHHS Office of Integrated Access and Support, said her agency is tasked with determining income eligibility for the federal food supplement program.

In 2010, the number of eligible Mainers has gone only upward.

The small bright side is that VanBurgel believes demand may have reached its peak and is “flattening again,” but she doesn’t see a dip in demand coming any time before spring 2011, when seasonal work picks up again.

“I don’t think we are trending down yet, but we are not seeing as steep a growth as we were,” she said.

To compound the problem, many of the state’s unemployed are reaching the end of their 99 weeks of benefits, adding pressure to already-stretched-thin food pantries.

That’s the scenario Kitty MacDonald, the main organizer for the Wilton Area Food Pantry, described recently.

“One lady came in because her work hours were cut way back and she needed to come to the food closet,” MacDonald said. “A lot of people are laid off, out of work, and the price of food continues to go up.”

Not far away, Carolyn McLaughlin at the Care and Share Food Closet in Farmington said one recent Monday they helped 18 families in two hours.

Each week, there’s at least one new family and some weeks there are two at the pantry in Wilton, MacDonald said.

The pantry, like Farmington’s Care and Share Food Closet, provides a three-day emergency food supply, one per family per month. It serves families in Wilton, Weld, North Jay, Dryden, East Wilton and East Dixfield and is located at the Wilton United Methodist Church.

The food closets have each recently received a large delivery of federal commodities, but it’s going fast, MacDonald said.

“We won’t get another one till March,” McLaughlin said. “We never know how much or what will come.”

Sponsored by local churches through the Franklin Ecumenical Area Ministry, the Farmington food closet at the Fairbanks School is governed by an ecumenical group of directors. It serves Farmington, Temple, New Sharon, North New Portland and New Vineyard.

The churches do well in the fall and during the holiday season, in addition to their regular support, McLaughlin said.

“My biggest fear is what happens at the first of the year,” she said.

November is the month for the closet’s annual appeal.

“So far, we’ve not come close to last year or even the year before,” she said. “We’re holding our own. We’ve had a few large food drives recently.”

The postal food drive and one held by the Boy Scouts will be augmented by Farmington’s Mallett School “Hand to Hand” food drive on Dec. 3, she said.

The Wilton pantry benefited from a food drive held Friday by Academy Hill and Cushing School students, MacDonald said. Some loyal people donate monthly and groups like the Wilton Lions Club help, she added.

Each pantry attempts to buy the most it can with the donations provided. McLaughlin is doing more ordering and searching for best prices online.

The Auburn-based Good Shepherd Food-Bank lists available items online and delivers once a month.

Along with emergency food, both pantries provide holiday food baskets. Sign-ups for Thanksgiving baskets are also up.

Pantry volunteers will pack and dole out 250 baskets, including a turkey, for those who come to the pantry and are struggling, McLaughlin said.

In Wilton, 143 families have already signed up for the basket that will include turkey for families of more than three and a roasting chicken for families of one or two, MacDonald said.

A youth group at Old South Congregational Church in Farmington will pack 50 baskets again this year, McLaughlin said.

Area schools are also seeing increases in demand for free and reduced lunch programs.

RSU 9 realized a dramatic increase in the number of students needing help this fall, Superintendent Michael Cormier said. The increase follows an increase last year that was just as dramatic.

Some district schools are reporting increases in need this year up by 50 to 60 percent, Cormier said.

Adding to the concerns in Franklin County, many people have gone through most of what they can get for fuel assistance and it’s only November, said Judy Frost, program manager of community services for Western Maine Community Action.

The federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds have been slashed and, while some Emergency Crisis Intervention Program funds will be coming, that amount is only about half what it’s been, she said. Last year, more than $2 million came into the county through LIHEAP and more than $100,000 in ECIP funds, she said.

People have already received an emergency 50-gallon ecumenical heating fund delivery but are seeing LIHEAP provisions as low as $108 this year, she said.

“What happens in February and March?” she asked. “Some will be in dire straits this winter and death is not out of the realm. It’s been hard before, but not to this degree.”

abryant@sunjournal.com

sthistle@sunjournal.com

How to help or get help

In Franklin and Oxford counties

Farmington Food Closet, 201 Barlen St., Farmington, 778-3833

Wilton Food Pantry: 645-4885

Andover: Congregational Church, food bank open 9-10:30 a.m., Tuesdays, or by appointment at 364-7968

Bethel: At the District Exchange located in the former Ethel Bisbee School, by appointment only, 824-0369

Buckfield Food Pantry: 12-1 p.m.; contact the Town Office at 336-2145

Canton: At the fire station, by appointment by calling 597-2694 or 597-2920

Dixfield: Common Road Baptist Church, food bank open 9-12 noon, Mondays and Thursdays; contact: 562-7470

East Otisfield Baptist Church: 1-5 p.m., fourth Friday of the month and as needed, 539-4619

Fryeburg: Assembly of God Food Pantry, Carol Mack, 935-3129

Hartford Food Pantry: Hartford Community Church, first Monday, 4:30-5 p.m.

Mexico: Congregational Church, food bank open 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesdays and 9-11 a.m., Fridays; contact: 364-8603

Norway Nazarene Ministries Food Pantry: Grove Street, 9-12 noon, first Wednesday of the month, or on call, 515-6960

Otisfield Pantry: Spurrs Corner Christian Missionary Alliance Church, 10 a.m. to noon, first and third Tuesdays

Oxford Hills Food Pantry: Green Street, Norway, 9 a.m.-11 a.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Oxford: Seventh-day Adventist Church Food Pantry, call the Town Office at 539-4431

Peru: United Baptist Church, food bank open 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 562-7167 or 562-7303

Rumford: Praise Assembly of God Church, food bank open 9 a.m. to noon, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; contact 364-3856

Waterford: Food pantry, as needed, contact the town office at 583-4403

Woodstock: Seventh-day Adventist Church Food Pantry, third Tuesday of each month, 1-5 p.m., 674-2566

 Androscoggin County

Contact: The Good Shepherd Food-Bank at 782-3554.

On online go to: http://gsfb.org/

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