A Miami area food bank is dan­ger of shut­ting down, just when need is great­est. Stop Hunger Food Bank says that unless they receive enough dona­tions by the end of the month, they will be forced to close.

From this arti­cle from WFOR, reporter Kim­ber­ley Chapin looks into the trou­bles of the food bank. The WFOR web­site is also col­lect­ing dona­tions to help keep the food bank open.

“This is the first time in our 30 years that we have faced the prob­lem of shut­ting down,” said Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Julius Littman. That’s a big change, con­sid­er­ing that at one point, Stop Hunger handed out more than 550 thou­sand meals a month.

So how could this food bank that serves so many of South Florida’s hun­gry now be fac­ing closure?

Arnold Jean Bap­tiste of the Children’s Ser­vices Coun­cil, who sits on Stop Hunger’s board, explained, “The indi­vid­u­als that used to donate to Stop Hunger now are look­ing to Stop Hunger in order to sur­vive. The dona­tions they used to get have now gone down; they are work­ing hard to get more food and keep the ser­vice going.”

With more fam­i­lies lin­ing up for food and a decrease in dona­tion, many sac­ri­fices have been made.

“Our vol­un­teers are work­ing full time and get­ting paid for half time,” said Fox.

But it’s a sac­ri­fice that many at Stop Hunger are will­ing to make, because many of them once turned to Stop Hunger for help them­selves; it’s some­thing vol­un­teer Seven Rosario knows all too well. “It’s always good to have a help­ing hand, they’ve helped me and now it’s my turn to help some­one else,” Rosario said.

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