While economic indicators continue to tumble, the number of people turning to parish food pantries continues to climb. In many cases, pantries are struggling to meet the increased demand.

"We used to be able to fill up the shelves. Now, soon as it's there, it goes out," said Father Tom Coby, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Riverhead, where the number of people seeking help has nearly doubled in recent months.

According to Mary Rubert, coordinator of social ministry at the parish, they used to serve between 350 and 400 people a month. In August, that number rose to 454. It jumped to 560 in September and more than 600 people in October.

Across the country it's the same story. At People of Progress, a food bank and emergency assistance charity in Redding, Calif., executive director Melinda Brown said that she's seeing "more and more new people, and a lot of working people, which is new."

The working people are getting food from the charity to make their paychecks stretch to the end of the month, she said. "We're seeing people who have never asked for help before."

A new report from the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that in 2007 13 million households experienced "food insecurity," meaning their access to adequate food was limited by a lack of money and other resources. That was 11.1 percent of all U.S. households.

About one-third of food-insecure households (4.7 million, or 4.1 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security, that is, the food intake of some household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns disrupted during 2007.

In the San Francisco area, George Slepnitkoff has noticed a lot of new faces among those waiting for lunch at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in San Mateo.

"It's seem like the line is getting longer every day," said Slepnitkoff, a parolee who is staying in a friend's carport as he works with the society to line up permanent housing. St. Vincent de Paul officials say they have seen a marked increase in meals served since August at the agency's locations in South San Francisco and San Mateo.

The San Mateo location served 1,800 meals in October, compared with 1,500 for a typical month, according to Lorraine Moriarty, executive director.

In the central Oregon city of Bend, "requests have increased tremendously," said Christine King, who directs social services for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul there. Food pantry shelves are now depleted early each week.