A local grocery store delivered 1,500 turkeys to the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties in Neptune Thursday. But the Foodbank says they still need more donations because requests for food have risen and donations have dropped.

"We hope to have enough food for the Thanksgiving holiday, we are right at this moment in time 2,000 turkeys short but the community has always helped us in the past and we encourage anyone in the community, if you have turkeys please drop them off," says Linda Keenan, Director of Development with the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

Keenan says the new people seeking food at pantries are formerly middle class families who have lost jobs or had work hours cut back.She says two out of every five people who utilize the Foodbank are children and only six percent of households' list welfare as their main source of income.

She says they provided emergency food to over 127,000 people in 2010, an 84% increase over the number of recipients identified in 2005, the last year data was collected.

The FoodBank distributes 7 million pounds of food annually to a network of about 260 hunger relief organizations. Last year these agencies distributed food to over 127,000 people in need in both counties. For more information go to foodbankmoc.org.

 

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