Hard times in the Valley
People line up early seeking assistance at Meet Each Need with Dignity, or MEND, in Pacoima. The need for food and clothing donations is growing, even as the amount of foodstuffs available to charity organizations is shrinking. The increasing demand forces many food banks to choose between the amount of food they provide and the number of clients they serve. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Volunteer Rita Perez, 38, prepares boxes of free food to give out to MEND clients. Food bank director Gina Mirabella said her volunteers spend hours some days calling grocers and manufacturers requesting donations. We come up short mostly on cereals and soups and canned meats, she said. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Cesia Ayala, 2 1/2, is waiting for MEND to open. As donations to food banks have decreased in recent years, charity administrators have tried to cope by giving scarce items such as cereal to families, in some cases leaving single clients without those types of goods. They sometimes refer clients to agencies in surrounding communities that havent been hard hit as hard, and some locations limit free grocery visits to once a month. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
When MEND opens its doors in the morning, theres already a long line of customers waiting for free food. Food donations to charities throughout Southern California are at record lows, leading some organizations to face a tough choice: Should they feed each family less in order to serve more people? (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
