With the price of food — and everything else — rising and the economy worsening, thousands more people in Hawai'i are using food stamps at the same time that free food pantries are getting slammed with lots of extra people needing help.

Some 101,655 Hawai'i residents were enrolled in the food stamp program in August, the latest statistics available, up about 13 percent — or more than 11,000 users — from summer 2007.

And several food pantries are reporting as many as twice the patrons they had a year ago. In fact, some pantries have run out of bread and other basics, and other pantries have had to limit the number of people they help.

"Paychecks aren't going as far for people," said Kuulei Williams, co-executive director of Aloha Harvest, which supplies food pantries. "Their cupboards are bare."

For service providers, the long lines at food pantries and the increased use of food stamps are stark proof of how hard the dismal economy and rising prices are hitting Hawai'i's working class. The swelling need follows a string of layoffs at major Hawai'i companies and comes as the tourism industry is seeing big visitor declines.

On a recent afternoon, there were about a dozen people — parents with children, seniors, and a few middle-age couples and singles — waiting for bags of food at the First United Methodist Church food pantry on South Beretania Street.

Rosemary Wheaton, 47, sat with her arms crossed as she waited. This was the first time the nurse's aide had found herself so short that she couldn't afford food for her three kids, 4, 10 and 11.

"I kind of feel depressed" coming to the pantry, said Wheaton, a single mom, adding that the spiraling economy has forced her to reconfigure her budget and cut back on anything frivolous, like eating out or catching a movie.

Nowadays, she said, "we live week to week."

Nearby, 72-year-old Frank Garcia flipped through a magazine as he waited.

He said his retirement income covers his housing, but not much else these days.

"I only take what I need" from the pantry, Garcia said, "and give back the rest."

Lissi Chadwick, who volunteers to help run the food pantry, said she has never seen so many people coming for help. The pantry is open two hours each weekday, and only allows patrons to come in once every three months. Still, in recent months, the pantry has had to stay open late because of all the demand from newcomers.

Last month, on a day when the pantry was supposed to close at 4 p.m., it stayed open until 7:30 p.m. On another day it closed at 5:30 p.m.

The pantry has run short on staples such as bread and canned meats. Sometimes, Chadwick said, volunteers halve loaves of bread so no one walks away without some.

"We see a mix of everyone — old people and young people, regular folks," Chadwick said. "Some have lost their jobs and others just cannot make it because everything has gotten so expensive. They just cannot make it through the month."

DEMAND UP ISLANDWIDE

Food pantries across the Island are reporting similar scenes.

Saints Peter and Paul Church on Kaheka Street provided food to about 383 households in July and August, nearly double the number served in the same months last year, according to the Hawaii Foodbank. St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua is helping 500 people a month through its outreach, 100 more than a year ago.

Val Haole, outreach director at St. Anthony, said the food pantry had to limit patrons to those who live in Kailua because so many people were coming.

"We're struggling here trying to keep up with food demand," she said.

The Hawaii Foodbank, the largest supplier of food for free pantries, also is struggling. At a time when need is up, the nonprofit has seen significantly fewer donations from growers and wholesalers because of the soaring cost of food. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the food bank saw a 26 percent drop in donations from growers and a 28 percent decrease in wholesaler donations, compared with the same period in 2007.

The increased demand and decreased supply — despite successful food drives this year — have left some shelves bare at the food bank's warehouse, said Polly Kauahi, Hawaii Foodbank director of development.

She added the rise in demand started about five months ago, and has grown in recent weeks.

As of Oct. 6, there were about 486,000 pounds of food at the food bank's warehouse in Kalihi — a 13-day supply. Five months ago, after several annual food drives, the warehouse had about 1 million pounds of food in stock.

Kauahi said the food bank's dollars also aren't going as far as they used to.

Recently, the nonprofit bought a container of rice at $11.90 a bag. Last year, the same 20-pound bags cost $7.20 each.

At Aloha Harvest, which collects food donations and drops them off at O'ahu pantries the same day, co-executive director Chris Chun said she has also seen a startling increase in demand over the last several months.

"The need is critical," she said.

FOOD STAMP USE SOARS

Thousands more people statewide are also using food stamps to stock their cupboards. This summer alone, the program saw a 5 percent increase in users in the Islands. And food stamp use is up nearly 16 percent from the five-year low in participation in fiscal year 2006, when there were 87,492 users in the Islands, state figures show.

Lillian Koller, state Department of Human Services executive director, said the agency has been working hard to reach out to the working poor, those who have been laid off and seniors on fixed incomes to get them signed up for food stamps.

"They shouldn't feel ashamed. They shouldn't feel embarrassed," Koller said, adding that the unfair stigma associated with the program still keeps many in need away.

Though they are commonly known as food stamps, the benefits are no longer distributed in a coupon book but on a pre-loaded electronic card — used like a debit card to buy only food products at most grocery stores across the Islands.

In the last fiscal year, 68.4 percent of eligible Hawai'i residents were enrolled in the program, up from 56 percent in fiscal 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program. The average monthly household food stamp benefit in the Islands last fiscal year was $287.46, up about $12 from the year before.

The minimum monthly benefit per person is $22, Koller said.

She added that though the state has seen a large increase in food stamp users, welfare rolls in the Islands are not growing. She said that's probably because many of those applying for food stamps for the first time are receiving unemployment benefits, make too much in income or have too many assets to qualify for welfare.