By Liz Kersjes
APTOS -- A crowd of volunteers turned up at Twin Lakes Church on Monday morning to help sort and load thousands of pounds of food for an ever-increasing number of needy local residents.
"We do it because we feel like churches are supposed to be the body of Christ in the community," said senior pastor Rene Schlaepfer. "Nothing is closer to God than helping the poor."
Each year, the donated non-perishable goods are given to Second Harvest, a food bank that serves about 60,000 people in the county each month through 180 local organizations.
This year, Twin Lakes hopes to gather 500,000 pounds of food and as much cash as possible by Thursday to donate to Second Harvest for an annual holiday food drive. Last year, the church donated goods and cash equivalent to 430,000 pounds of food.
Second Harvest's development director, Lisa Allyn, said the church and the food bank aim to raise more donations this year because the local demand for food from Second Harvest has increased 30 percent since last year. Schlaepfer said he's seeing more middle-class homeowners seeking food from the church's own food pantry.
And it's not just in Santa Cruz County.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday that more than one in seven American households -- or 49 million people -- struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008, which at 14 percent is the highest rate since the department began tracking "food security" levels in 1995.
The numbers are up from 2007, when 11.1 percent of U.S. households suffered from what the USDA classifies as "food insecurity" -- not having enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle.
However, the figures may not take the full measure of America's current struggle with hunger. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the report's lead author, Mark Nord from the USDA's economic research service, emphasized that the numbers reflected the situation in 2008 and that the economy's continued troubles in 2009 would likely mean higher numbers next year.
Twin Lakes parishioner Rick Grewohl, who helps run the church's food pantry, agreed that the tough economic times that started last year have continued this year. But in the face of that rising need, Grewohl remains optimistic about the church's efforts to serve the hungry.
"When you saw the amount of food that was collected and loaded onto trucks ... I'm just real happy with the outcome," he said about Monday's volunteer event for Second Harvest. "Even if we don't meet our goals, we still did a good thing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.