MONTPELIER – Two hundred hunger advocates – twice the number that attended last year's statewide hunger conference – gathered at the Capitol Plaza Wednesday to hear and be heard. After attending a variety of morning workshops, more than a dozen participants told the Governor's Task Force on Hunger that hunger is growing, that it is affecting greater numbers of working people, that Vermonters are caught in a vise between rising costs and stagnant wages and that lack of public transportation prevents many of the hungry from getting to available food.

The Vermont Foodbank, which sponsored the state's first hunger conference last year, invited the Governor's Task Force on Hunger to this year's conference so that task force members could hear directly from people working in the field.

Jim Coutts, executive director of the Franklin County Senior Center, told the task force about the difficulties facing Vermont's elderly residents. Some seniors share meals from the food program with other family members or their pets, Coutts said. When his drivers deliver snacks to Meals on Wheels recipients, they often report that their refrigerators are empty.

Attendance at the St. Alban's meal site has decreased, he said, and since the meal is free, he concludes that some people can no longer afford to get there. Coutts has also seen a drop in donations for meals – a sign that recipients can't give as much as previously.

"These are the proud Vermonters who want to be sure they pay their way," he said. They won't take part in the program if they can't contribute toward the food or pay for their transportation.

Stephanie Kamal has seen a surge in need at the Swanton Community Food Shelf. She speculated that some seniors who previously ate at the St. Albans senior center can no longer afford to get there and are coming to her food shelf. Last year her agency served fewer than 100 households in January. This January, it served more than 140 households, and the numbers are holding steady.

"Most are families with working parents and seniors," Kamal said. In one case, both the husband and wife worked in Burlington; the increase in the price of gasoline wiped out their food budget.

Pat Allen has seen a rise in persistent hunger in her area. She said the number of repeat visits to the Middlesex Food Shelf this year doubled from the 2006 fiscal year.

Rob Meeham, the director of the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, has seen a 40 percent increase in the number of working families visiting his site, the largest food shelf in the state. When families struggle with hunger, he said, it has an impact on their children. He noted that in one day last year 200 people came through seeking a five-day supply of food.

Meehan attributed the rise in hunger to rising fuel costs, the lack of affordable housing, and the lack of jobs that pay a livable wage.

"People coming back from Iraq are coming to the food shelf – it's important for the governor to know," he told the task force.

Orange County has the poorest seniors in the state, and Randolph has the poorest seniors in Orange County, said Ann Brandon, the executive director of the Greater Randolph Senior Center. Like all senior centers, the meal site offers more than just food; it provides a place for seniors to socialize – an antidote to isolation and depression.

The center offers exercise classes, trips, foot clinics, bingo and mahjong. The mahjong group "is the hottest group going," she said. "I'm sure they're gambling – I can never get rid of them!"

Drivers deliver 8,000 of the 14,000 meals that Brandon serves each year to widely dispersed homes, and for the first time, she said, some of the drivers are asking for gas money. Brandon estimates that reimbursements could cost her program an additional $10,000 next year.

"The best way to address hunger is to fund public transportation," Brandon declared. She instructed the task force members to "tell the Governor if I can feed someone carrots and potatoes and fresh greens, I can save you money on hospital and nursing home costs."

It's not only the elderly who are at risk of hunger. Joy Spontak said that she has seen "pretty dramatic changes" in her young clients' needs. Spontak is the coordinator of the Washington County Youth Services Bureau and Boys and Girls Club Teen Parent Program.

In the past, Spontak said, diapers were always at the top of the list of things young mothers asked for, but for the past two years, she has had as many requests for food as for diapers. "That never happened before," she observed.

If pregnant teens don't get enough food, they risk giving birth to pre-term babies with health problems, Spontak said. She cited the example of one young mother who asked her to share her story. Pregnant, living in a homeless shelter and often hungry, at one point the young woman was rushed to the emergency room for dehydration. She had lost six pounds in a month. "Food is so basic. It's a moral issue," Spontak said. "It's a moral dilemma for our time."

The executive director of the Congressional Hunger Center, Edward Cooney, who gave the keynote address, observed that Vermont hunger advocates are doing many things right – energizing a wide variety of people and working on food security at the community level.

He urged Vermonters to create a statewide coalition of hunger constituencies that would serve as a platform for working on specific issues at the community level. "It's letting a thousand flowers bloom," he said. "Vermont has all the people you need to make Vermont the first state in the nation to end hunger."