Bowling Green has the largest problem of poverty and hunger in Wood County. The problem has risen drastically due to the Sept. 11 attacks and economic problems. Various local food pantries and kitchens are working to correct the problem.

“Currently, Bowling Green is suffering from poverty the worst,” said Bob Barr, a human service worker for the Wood County Salvation County. “Perrysburg, around the Wall Bridge area is second, and North Baltimore and Weston would both be somewhere around third,”

According to research done by Pastor Zedda Myers, “In Wood County alone, 7.1% of the population is living below poverty level (compared to 11% in all of Ohio.)

The situation has not been improving .

“Working is down since the September 11th attacks,” said Barr. “Due to the Canadian borders being closed, goods are taking longer to get to factories. This results in more factories laying off people, which leads to an increase in poverty and hunger.”

The Salvation Army gives out Thanksgiving baskets every year and is expecting to have an increase in demand this year.

“Last year we had 138 people receiving Thanksgiving baskets,” Barr said. “With the economy’s current slump taking place, we are only one week into signing up for baskets, and we already have 136 people signed up.”

The increase in the need of help from the Salvation Army is not limited to Thanksgiving.

“I can?t say exactly how many people we’ve helped this year because the year is not yet over, but last year we (The Salvation Army) helped 70 kids with coats, 270 kids with Christmas presents, and 136 families with Thanksgiving baskets,” Barr added. “492 families received help for utilities and 203 families received funding from the kettle fund.”

The kettle fund is financed though the kettle donation campaign, which begins the day before Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas. This is when the Salvation Army receives the majority of its donations and volunteer help.

“Donations from the red kettle funds go to help people with everything from utilities to medicine,” Barr said.

The Salvation Army also has various angel trees throughout Wood County. Angel trees are Christmas trees located in different department stores and ornated with paper angel decorations. Within each angel, the name of a child and the toy this child wants for Christmas is written. Patrons who wish to sponsor a child can pick up and angel and buy the present for the child. This campaign runs from November 21st through December 11th.

Barr said income is not the main priority when assisting someone in need.

“We aren?t sticklers on income,” Barr said. “Need and income both attribute to who we assist, but we mainly look at the person’s need. We need to examine the issue of poverty on a case by case basis.”

The Salvation Army in Bowling Green can host only two homeless families at a time.

“They are full most of the time, we will put families up in motels on a temporary basis if there is no room,” Barr said. “The problem is that there is no affordable housing in Toledo so people come to BG, find that there is not much here, and they eventually move out to places like Weston or North Baltimore.”

According to him, one of the main problems is that the University takes up a lot of housing. He added the lack of housing was also due to the fact that a lot of people work in Toledo but live in Bowling Green.

When asked what people can do to help out, Barr said that monetary donations for emergency help are always needed.

“The pantries are currently in stock but are in need of money,”he added, “We are trying to get programs that are more than just a band aid.”

Wood County has 16 food pantries. The largest is the Bowling Green Christian Food Pantry, which is located at 132 South Main Street.

“It is also the only one where people can shop in a one aisle-like store where there is a larger selection,” said Ursula Denisoff, co-coordinater of the Christian Food Pantry. “Our mission is to provide food for people in need in a non-judgmental, compassionate manner.”

“People in need are given a three to five day food supply,” Denisoff added. “This past year 34,000 meals were shared through the service of the Pantry. That’s four and a half thousand meals a month.”

With the slumping economy, they have had 50 new clients in the last two weeks

The Pantry is funded and supplied by donations from area churches, organizations, and individuals. Food is purchased in bulk from wholesalers throughout the year.

“A lot of people think that by donating canned goods, they are guaranteed that food will reach the people,” Denisoff said. “They figure that way they don’t have to worry about people spending money on such things as alcohol. We can actually stretch the dollar farther by purchasing from wholesalers and food banks.”

“Since we have no refrigeration system here, we provide people with meat vouchers to the Ole Butcher Shop,” she added. “Monetary donations also go towards purchasing these, besides non-perishables.”

The Pantry is designed to help anyone in a crisis need.

“I wish to stress to students that when they are in need, they are welcomed here,” Denisoff said. “If they spent all of their money on a car payment or bills, we are always here.”

Like the Salvation Army, the Christian Food Pantry is not concentrating on income when helping someone.

“We don’t look at income, but instead we look at the person’s need,” said Liesbeth Beasley, a volunteer for the pantry. “If everyone in Wood County would donate one dollar, we would be able to deal with the problem.”

Beasley added there is a lot of wasted products that could help to fight hunger.

“Also, many farmers throw out food that could be used to help fight hunger,” she said. “For instance, farmers throw out red tomatoes and use only the green ones.”

“George Jensen, a hunger advocate from the Society of St. Andrew, goes out into the fields and gets such things as tomatoes that the farmers aren’t using, and brings them back for the hungry,” Beasley added.

The Christian Food Pantry has also been greatly helped by the University’s Lamba Chi Alpha, which donated the most to the food bank this year. “They raised $15, 000 plus food donations,” Denisoff said. “With 8.5 percent of Ohio’s population relying on food pantries for assistance, this is greatly appreciated.”