Demand for food from needy families has surged this year under primarily economic pressures, social assistance groups say.The Salvation Army has set its highest-ever objective of $1 million in fund raising, while Anglican Church is tackling an “high, high level of demand” in the Pembroke community.“We’re seeing a broad cross-section of the community, all sorts of people. We see a lot of parents, mothers, people from the streets, older men, a real mixture,” said Rev Nicholas Dill, priest in charge of the Anglican parish of Pembroke.A Royal Gazette story on the church’s struggles to keep food on its shelves brought in extra donations, which were snapped up just as quickly.“We were able to buy a stock of food vouchers, and within a matter of three hours we had given out 40 of them,” Rev Dill said. “It’s an Island-wide need. We have people who catch the bus from Southampton to get food vouchers in town.”The church parish’s normal monthly quota is 20 $25 vouchers.The vouchers are distributed at St John’s Church, along with food from the church’s pantry, but meals are also served at St Augustine’s Church on Wednesdays and, starting December 19, a similar programme is to be launched on Mondays at St Monica’s Church.“We’re partnered now with the Eliza Doolittle Society, and their aim is to have somewhere for people to go for food every night of the week,” Rev Dill explained.The church feeding programme’s numbers have climbed since it began in May. St Augustine’s church is now attracting roughly 100 to 120 people a night. Thanksgiving saw 165 people.As well as rising needs, Rev Dill attributes the rise to better communication, a relinquishing of personal pride, and the sense of togetherness people get at the meals.“It’s not just about food. It’s about community. We’re getting young men turning up who are saying they’re not anticipating living beyond their 20s. Food is the immediate necessity, but there are deeper emotional and spiritual needs as well.”Many of the people arriving for sit-down meals are from the immediate vicinity.“It’s a high, high level of demand, and at times it feels overwhelming,” Rev Dill said, “but there’s part of me which feels that even these times are hard, it’s building. It’s reconnecting people to other people. There’s a measure of a new found sense of responsibility to one another. It’s very humbling.”Meanwhile, for the Salvation Army, the target for the fiscal year ending in March, 2012 is $1 million a significant rise over the previous year’s $875,000, according to Divisional Commander Major Shawn Critch.The group has seen about 275 new faces in its community and family services programme, which primarily assists the needy with food, over the course of the year. Roughly 5,000 people are served in total.“From an economic perspective, there were a lot of layoffs in December of last year, and over the course of the last ten months we’ve seen the impact of the recession through those new cases,” Major Dill said. “They are primarily new families.“There are single parent families, but also dual parent families as well, where maybe one has lost their job and they’re having difficulties making ends meet. For us, there’s a direct link to the economic realities.”Major Dill told Hamilton Rotary Club yesterday that while these realities are challenging, “it is also providing an opportunity for the charitable sector, or the Third Sector, to redefine itself, re-evaluate its programmes and realise its need for ongoing collaboration and conversation”.After 18 months at the helm of the Salvation Army in Bermuda, he said: “I continue to be amazed at the sheer beauty of this country and her people and the generosity of all residents”.Although at the end of September, the charity was $130,000 below its target, the Christmas fund raising campaign hopes to address that, he said.Launched on November 19, that letter campaign hopes to raise $425,000, and has so far brought in more than a quarter of that amount. Christmas donations to the Salvation Army often continue to the end of January, he said.The combined cost of the Salvation Army’s social services to the community is $2 million a year. The group’s overall fund raising target between now and March 31 is $555,000.Asked if the charity would have to cut back if it fails to reach its target, Major Dill said: “It’s premature to say what the impact would be if we don’t make our $1 million objective.“Certainly, in terms of fiscal planning for next year, we would be looking at services, seeing ways to make them more efficient, but our hope would certainly be that we can reach target. We have had no discussions so far about restructuring or cutting back.”He added: “I’m very optimistic. In the last month or so there have been some very unexpected donations. I feel positive. I look forward to thanking the community for their help at the end of March.”To donate to the Anglican Church’s food programme, drop in at the Pembroke Sunday School by St John’s Church, or call 292-5308 to ask about volunteering.The Salvation Army’s Divisional Headquarters on Roberts Avenue, Devonshire can be reached at 292-0601.