Demand growing for holiday food assistance

With the holiday season approaching, more and more food banks and assistance centers around Massachusetts are receiving requests for help.

The slowing economy, which has led to increasing levels on unemployment and tighter credit, has pushed some Americans over the edge. Many people struggling to make ends meet during the holidays last year are now turning to relief organizations for help.

One of the factors making the situation so difficult for consumers is the high cost of food.

Increases in fuel prices have driven up the price of many groceries, especially essentials such as milk, meat and fruit because of the need for those products to be refrigerated. The increase in the price of a turkey, for example, from last year to this year means that unless they get more donations, relief organizations will not be able to help as much as they could in the past.

According to the Boston Globe, the state’s food banks paid about $.80 per pound for turkeys in 2006, but will pay over $1.05 this year. These higher prices translate into an increased need for generosity, but unfortunately the weakening economy may make that a difficult goal.

In order to combat what could be a difficult holiday season, the Salvation Army is planning to begin their signature red kettle campaign earlier this year.

Beginning November 12, bell ringers will begin appearing around Massachusetts.

"We trust the Lord," Major William H. Bode, commander of the Massachusetts division of the Salvation Army, tells the Boston Globe. "And trust the donor."

--Bridget O'Sullivan

Boston's inflation rate trumps other metro areas

Inflation is impacting Americans across the country, but the Boston area has been hit especially hard by rising prices. The Associated Press reports that consumer prices increased over six percent last year, the biggest jump of all metropolitan areas.

Overall, inflation rose about 5.5 percent last year. The country has not experienced that kind of year-to-year jump since 1991. One of the major underlying causes for the increase is the price of fuel.

As the price of crude oil spent weeks setting records, those price increases translated into higher prices for gas, food and other goods.

These effects have been compounded in the Boston area because of the region’s distance from the country’s main production centers of food and fuel. A significant amount of the nation’s oil comes from the South and the Midwest, and the Midwest and California are the major agricultural centers.

The more it costs to transport these items and the further they have to go, the more consumers must pay. In addition, many homes in the Boston area are dependant on oil to heat their homes, so an increase in the price of fuel causes home heating bills to rise as well.

--Bridget O'Sullivan