Poverty and Hunger Increasing in Lehigh County

A high unemployment rate and dismal economy are causing more residents to seek help from local food pantries, according to Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley.

In the Southern Lehigh area, Second Harvest helps supply Betty Lou’s Pantry at 333 Oxford St. in Coopersburg. The pantry is open every other Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Phone: 610-282-3316.

More than 66,000 people get help from Lehigh Valley food resources every month -- up from about 40,000 four years ago.

Seventy-six percent of people using charity food resources did so for the first time, according to a survey done at food pantries and soup kitchens from January to April.

One in five people surveyed were employed, but more than half of them only had a part-time job. The local unemployment rate stands at about 9 percent.

The survey results show that local middle-class families are falling into poverty, said Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley.

Close to 14 percent of Lehigh County residents live in poverty, according to 2010 Census statistics.

Five hundred people were surveyed. Sixteen percent have a home, up from 10 percent in a 2007 survey.

The survey results were covered by several media outlets, including The Morning Call and WFMZ.