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• May 16, 2008 10:54 am US/Mountain
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  Food Bank Hopeful After Farm Bill Passes Congress

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Food Bank Hopeful After Farm Bill Passes Congress

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ― The Food Bank for Larimer County is hoping the Farm Bill passed by Congress Thursday will help it feed needy people as food and gas prices keep rising. The bill focuses 70 percent on nutrition programs, including more than $10 billion for programs like the food bank.

The Food Bank for Larimer County says more low income families are depending on food from the center as the cost of grocery store items continue to rise.

"We used to kind of come once in a while to get a few extra things here or there and now it's like we need to come here or we don't eat," said Kate Arduino, a Fort Collins resident.

Most of items in the food bags used to come from the federal government. That changed about 2 years ago.

The bank's executive director said half of the items in the bags now come from donated food and that those donations are down. The food bank also buys the needed food at today's higher prices so that each family still gets the same amount.

"We've really increased our purchase on these beans, peaches," said Amy Pezzani of the Food Bank for Larimer County. "We've spent over double what we budgeted this year on food purchases."

Pezzani expects the farm bill to provide more food assistance from the federal government to help feed the hungry.

Nearly 200 new families have started coming here for food since the start of the year. Others said they're coming more often now.

"We're definitely seeing myself coming here a lot more often," said Renee Griego, a Larimer County resident. "You know, twice a week, whereas before it was once a week tops, sometimes twice a month."

Pezzani said the food bank was planning to increase its food purchasing budget by 400 percent next year, but hopes the new farm bill will help off set some of that expected costs.

She isn't sure how much more food will make its way to the food bank because of the farm bill.

(© MMVIII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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