With cold months approaching, food pantries around the state are finding their cupboards barer than usual.

Donations are pretty much depleted after the unprecedented push last month to help feed Hurricane Katrina's victims in the south.

Several food banks that rely on truckloads of government-supplied food also haven't received a shipment since the disaster, and most say they expect donations during the coming holiday months may be inadequate.

"I'm a little nervous because so much money and effort went to the Katrina relief," said John Roberts, executive director of Mountain Mission in Charleston. "Although that was extremely needed and was the need of the hour, we still have needs here at home. I believe people across West Virginia are going to want to step up, but it's going to be a strain for them to give as they normally do after those events."

The food bank at Saint Timothy's Lutheran Church on Corridor G is struggling with low supplies right now, after giving hundreds of cases of food to help stock up several tractor-trailers on their way to storm-ravaged New Orleans and Biloxi.

"You can almost say the cupboards are bare," said the Rev. Richard Mahan. "Katrina has already affected us. By the time we get finished distributing food on one day, we already have to somehow try to get enough food to stock up for the next."

Food pantries all over the East Coast -- and throughout the nation -- are dealing with similar shortages.

From Mississippi and Florida to Connecticut and California, many food banks are reporting they gave nearly all their winter surplus to the hurricane effort.

For some pantries in Charleston, the strain has been building for quite some time.

"We are hurting for food right now," said Philip Hainen, director of the food bank for Covenant House. "The amount of food we've been getting has been less and less, and it's been over a long course of time."

The shortage at Covenant House is such that, beginning a few weeks ago, the pantry has been turning away individuals who live outside Charleston city limits.

Last year, supplies were stocked enough that the food bank was able to expand its coverage out into the far reaches of Kanawha County.

But Hainen said problems began with the floods West Virginia experienced earlier in the year, which put a strain on resources statewide.

Covenant House depends partially on food shipments from the Huntington Area Food Bank, which is supplied by the federal Department of Agriculture.

Each month, the Covenant House typically receives 90 cases of food. Beginning in June, shipments had shrunk to 30 cases, and for the past two months shipments have been stalled altogether.

"I can't say definitely it's been because of Katrina and Rita, but the last month it most likely was," Hainen said. "We are able to maintain right now, but we aren't real secure."

The beginning of fall and the weeks before the Thanksgiving and Christmas season kicks into full gear is prime time for pantries to stock up on extra supplies for families who don't have much for the holidays.

Typically, banks begin running low on high-protein items and food items that most donors don't think to contribute. Volunteers say that trouble is only worse now.

Most places say they're overloaded with things like canned green beans and corn, but families can't live on that alone.

"People are always wanting meat, but we can mostly only do canned or dried items like beef stew," Hainen said.

Pantries throughout the city report they're most in need of items such as peanut butter, pasta, spaghetti sauce, dried beans, macaroni and cheese, cereals and cleaning supplies.

© Copyright 2005 Charleston Daily Mail