Food-Stuffed Buses Drive Home Plight of the Needy

"Food stamps aren't going as far as they used to," she said. "Clients that used to come a couple of times a year are coming a bit more. And we're definitely seeing seniors. They go to buy those same 10 things they always buy, and suddenly they find they can't afford those 10 things."

A report yesterday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that food prices in April rose almost 1 percent, the highest jump since 1990.

Throughout the day, a steady stream of folks dropped by the Whole Foods in Rockville to donate bags of pasta, boxes of cereal and other nonperishables. By early afternoon, all of the seats on the bus and half of the floor space were taken up by food.

Some donors, like Bezerra, gave on the spur of the moment. Others, like Liz Oser, a mother of four from Rockville, had done their shopping earlier and stopped by between errands.

About noon, Oser pulled up in her car and unloaded nearly a dozen bags, stuffed with cereal, canned vegetables, flour and soups.

"There are people all over the world who are in need, but there are also people here in our community that need help," Oser said. "It's just the right thing to do."

Local nonprofit groups said spiraling food costs aren't the only thing affecting their ability to help those who need it. The high price of gasoline is also making it difficult for them to distribute food, because it costs more to fuel delivery trucks. The result, they say, is less money for food. Some volunteers also say they can no longer help with distribution because they can't afford to fill their tanks, Garris said.

On Rockville Pike, friends Lisa Flaxman, Robin Thieme and Eviva Goldfarb said they had seen headlines about the food crises in the Washington region and around the world. Yesterday, Flaxman made two trips in her blue Isuzu to drop off 650 pounds of food that the trio had collected.

"The need is real, and it's right around us," Thieme said as she helped load the bus.