The following story is a compilation from a report in the July 10, Wall Street Journal On Line version, supplement with details provided in the August 13, 2009 issue of EP News (Editor)

Battered by massive layoffs, home foreclosures and nearly a decade of economic decline, more residents of Detroit’s middle-class suburbs are having a tough time putting food on the table.
State agencies and nonprofit groups that serve the poor in southeast Michigan say they are seeing an unprecedented rise in demand for food assistance across the region. They point to a pronounced increase in those seeking aid for the first time, often families unaccustomed to depending on food-aid programs. And they expect the numbers to grow as Michigan’s jobs picture worsens.

“We’re going to see pretty significant increases,” says DeWayne Wells, president of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeast Michigan, the largest food bank in the state. “We are even hearing from many people that, a year or two ago, used to be financial donors to the pantry.”
Michigan has long struggled with poverty and unemployment in its urban areas. But the spread of financial hardship has been jarring for a region where the manufacturing-based economy once provided for high wages and comfortable middle-class lifestyles.
The problem is likely to get markedly worse in the coming months. Michigan, where the 14.1% unemployment rate is the highest in the nation, faces still more layoffs in its principal industries: auto manufacturing, which is in the midst of a sweeping restructuring, and the health-care business, which is reeling from the auto makers’ benefit cuts.
Moreover, state officials warn of a surge in the number of long-term unemployed workers who will exhaust the extended jobless benefits that until now helped them afford necessities like food. By the end of the year, roughly 100,000 residents will have lost their benefits, according to the state’s unemployment insurance agency.
Meanwhile, local food banks are straining to serve the expanding need. These privately run distribution sites, which depend on private and government food donations and serve families who might not qualify for government aid, are typically the first line of defense for families at risk of skipping meals or going without entirely.
Gleaners, which distributed 28 million pounds of food last year to smaller nonprofits, said demand for its services is up nearly 20% this year — and closer to 30% in the suburbs of Detroit.
Facing a decline in support from local donors, Gleaners said it was lucky to see its allotment of USDA food contributions more than double in the first half of this year, to more than five million pounds. The USDA says its shipments included such staples as chicken, peanut butter, dry milk, beans, eggs and applesauce. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus money has helped Gleaners and other private agencies fill the gap, too.
“Some of the areas where we’re seeing some of the strongest need is where we don’t have a network of agencies,” says Gleaners’s Mr. Wells. Until recently, he says, there was little demand for food aid in those neighborhoods.
In Plymouth, a western suburb of Detroit that is home to a large community of auto industry employees, Trinity Presbyterian Church began distributing food to needy families late last year, says Mr. Wells, whose group supplied the food. The church had expected to serve about 200 families a month, but has seen more than three times that number show up in recent months.
Ellie Schupra, the director of outreach, heads up the program along with a passionate crew of volunteers. “The response from our church family has been tremendous!” says Ellie, “we routinely have forty+ volunteers who sort the food, pack it up, and distribute it to the families. They also provide a lunch of homemade soup (12-16 varieties), bread, and cookies. What’s really a blessing is to see our people caring so much about other’s physical and spiritual needs!” The church has received numerous positive comments from the food bank recipients, and several of the families now attend Trinity’s services. In addition, many of the families who have received food come back and “pay it forward” by volunteering to help others! What an awesome opportunity to serve others by showing Christ’s love! To God be the glory!