By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Before Tuesday's monthly shipment, the at Kings Food Pantry in South Lebanon were the skimpiest Pauline Holloway had seen in about 15 years.

And even though the shelves are now lined with food and other necessities, the 77-year-old retired post office employee, who runs the pantry, worries they won't be for long.

"We've got plenty of stock in this time, but we've got so many people coming in, I don't know how long they'll be filled," she said. "Everything's been hit hard. There's so many people out of work."

The Kings Pantry, which served 81 families in June, is not alone. Officials say food pantries across the area are struggling to keep their shelves filled. They say that with the slumping economy, more and more people are turning to charitable services to help make ends meet.

They're also coming more often and needing more food, says Tina Osso, executive director of the Shared Harvest Foodbank in Fairfield, which distributes to about 250 charities in 30 Ohio counties. Their food distribution has increased 70 percent over the last three years.

Summer is traditionally a slower time for food donations, according to pantry employees.

Fewer donations, coupled with the increase in need, have left places like the Lebanon Food Pantry struggling to keep up. "I was in there this morning, and my freezers are totally bare," pantry board president Jean Christy said Tuesday afternoon.

The pantry doesn't get its regular shipment until the third Friday of the month. But Tuesday, they were out of many necessities - including flour, sugar and cooking oil - so Christy placed a grocery store order to make it through the month.

"We'll have to find a way to make it stretch a little farther," she said. "The only thing I can say is that when they come in, they do get something. It just many not be the variety we have all the time."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com