Personalizing Hunger

Photograph by Joseph Sorrentino

Nonprofit food banks and soup kitchens are facing staggering demands to feed hungry people as the country’s economy continues to slip. Nearly 9 out of 10 organizations that responded to a recent survey conducted by America’s Second Harvest, a network that distributes donated food, reported that requests from the hungry had increased compared with the same time last year. What’s more, many of the food banks said, donations were down.

The Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, which supplies groceries to 800 area charities, for example, raised $176,000 less than expected last year due to a sharp decrease in year-end gifts.

Joan Mintz Ulmer, a spokeswoman for the food bank, says that the group has also had a tough time collecting food donations, in part because of changes in the Philadelphia area’s food industry, such as the loss of a supermarket-chain headquarters. The chain was bought by a California company, she says, and can no longer be counted on for contributions.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary last year and to help raise awareness of hunger, the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank commissioned a local photographer to document the work of the organization’s member charities. The resulting photo exhibit, called “Freedom From Hunger,” was sponsored by The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, and toured southeastern Pennsylvania throughout the year. “It personalizes the issues of hunger,” Ms. Ulmer says of the exhibit, which will soon be permanently mounted in the food bank’s offices.

Part of the exhibit, this photo was taken at the Sunday Breakfast Mission, a homeless shelter in Philadelphia that also serves meals to the needy.