By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — While politicians in Washington are starting to talk about an economic recovery, the line out the door at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger tells a different story.
The Upper West Side food bank is seeing record demand for food, handing out the equivalent of 9,000 meals on Wednesday, said executive director Doreen Wohl.
That's a sharp uptick from the food bank's usual average of 6,000 meals a day.
"There has been an enormously dramatic increase," Wohl said. "We're in a crisis."
In 2007, the food bank served an average of 137 households a day, or the equivalent of 3,000 meals. These days, it's an average of 200 households, or about 6,000 meals a day.
Among its clients are 28-year-old Rosi Dominguez, a Washington Heights mother of three who brought her youngest child, Jocelyn, with her to the food bank Thursday.
Dominguez said her husband works in construction, but the family struggles to pay its bills.
"My husband tries to give us all he can, but sometimes I don't have a lot of money to buy food," she said. "Over here, they help me a little."
Dominguez said she planned to stock up on produce and meat. She also wanted to get some rice so she could make arroz con leche, a treat her kids like in colder weather.
But to keep serving clients like Dominguez, Wohl said the West Side Campaign Against Hunger needs volunteers — and money.
The organization's budget isn't keeping pace with demand. Wohl explained that she's budgeted $8,500 a week to spend on food, but it doesn't buy enough. Last week the pantry's shelves were empty of dried beans and pasta by Thursday.
Wohl figures she needs about $15,000 a week to provide all the food that's needed.
The food bank, which operates out of the basement of the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on West 86th Street and West End Avenue, serves low-income families, seniors and singles from across the city.
The economic downturn has brought more first-time clients through its doors, said Maria Pacheco, social work supervisor at the food bank
"We're seeing people with master's degrees, people with Ph.D.s, people from Wall Street," Pacheco said. "All of the sudden they have no resources and they're eligible for assistance."
