Holiday hams gone in a flash
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008
Daily Record photograph by Charles Fowler Kathy Hughes, left, with the Bella Vista Lutheran Church gave a ham to Sara Bard of Pea Ridge at Helping Hands in Bentonville on Tuesday.
BENTONVILLE — With the stock market going up and down faster and more often than a roller coaster, the housing market in shambles and the cost of groceries going through the roof, a person does not need to look hard to see the signs that the U. S. economy is more finicky than ever. Now, with the holidays approaching, one more thing can be added to the ever-growing list, Thanksgiving dinner.
Because everything seems to cost exponentially more, there are more people looking for help in Benton County than there were last year.
Helping Hands in Bentonville purchased 179 holiday hams to give to families in need for their Thanksgiving Day celebrations, the same number the charity ordered to help feed the community last Thanksgiving.
The problem is that while it took nearly two weeks to give away the hams last year, it has only taken Helping Hands two days to give them away this year, with more than half of the turkey-day hams being given away during the first day of distribution this year.
“ It took us a week and a half to distribute all of the hams last year. This year, we started Monday and we will be out by Wednesday, ” said Bill Crawford, manager of Helping Hands.
“ We have seen the demand on our food pantry probably close to triple just because of the economy. We always see a huge increase around the holidays, but this year it is much greater. It is really putting the pressure on the food pantry, ” Crawford said.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online