In the past year, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank distributed 9.5 million pounds of food, an increase of more than one million pounds from the 8.3 million collected two years ago. According to Chief Executive Officer Andrew Schiff, however, that might not be enough this time around.

“It looks like we have to somehow exceed that again. As quickly as the food is coming in, it’s going out,” he said. “What we’ve seen since the beginning of 2009, is that as the lines at unemployment have grown, so have the lines at food pantries.”

This week marks the beginning of the food bank’s Holiday Meal Drive, an annual push for collections during a particularly important time of year.

Meals for Thanksgiving have already been distributed, including 1,000 turkeys courtesy of Stop & Shop. Moving forward in the drive, the goal is collect 250,000 pounds of food by the end of December.

Need increases during the winter months, and many of the more than 300 member agencies organize individual programs geared toward the holidays. Although the Comprehensive Community Action Program isn’t doing Thanksgiving baskets this year and instead opted to give gift cards to families in need, CCAP Executive Director Joanne McGunagle says the response has been encouraging.

“It’s fairly even, actually. Our traditional donors are still sending money for turkeys and that type of thing,” she said.

Despite the help, she sees the need growing as well.

“A lot of people have been hit hard. We went from serving 500 people a month to serving 700 a month in our food bank,” McGunagle said.

That 200-person increase has taken place just since the beginning of summer.

“All of our services have been increasing,” she said. “We try really to never refuse anyone who’s hungry.”

Neither does the Rhode Island food bank, but Schiff fears that could be in the cards if the need continues to rise without a surge in donations.

“It is very, very encouraging to see the response from the community but I am a worrier. I’m very nervous about when are things going to turn around?” he asked. “The worst thing in the world would be to have to turn them away.”

At a monthly agency advisory committee meeting, that possibility was discussed, however. Schiff says if worse comes to worst, medium and smaller sized agencies would see cutbacks in food assistance before broader reaching organizations.

“That would be a burden I would hate to place on the agencies,” he added.

Still, community groups across the state are being stretched thin. In October of 2008, SNAP, Rhode Island’s food stamp program, was serving 90,444 Rhode Islanders. Last month, that number had swollen to 122,836.

“The food pantries and soup kitchens and shelters are all maxed out. When we sat down months ago to try to figure out this year, we knew that the recession wasn’t going to end anytime soon,” Schiff said.

To make ends meet, Schiff says his agency - and those they partner with - are trying to think creatively and become more efficient. Food pantries and soup kitchens turn to the state’s food bank to purchase food in order to cut costs. The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is able to buy food at wholesale cost, reducing the burden on smaller agencies. Thanks to donations and wholesale purchasing power, $1 can be stretched to provide three meals.

Also helping are smaller food drives run by schools, local businesses and philanthropist Allan Shawn Feinstein. This year, Feinstein charged schools will collecting canned goods, promising to match each item with $1 for the school. He says the amount collected will surpass 100,000 items this week and will likely go as high as 140,000.

“The fact that they’re bringing so much food in shows that they’re certainly aware that they have a responsibility,” Feinstein said. “Our junior scholars are very responsive to our calls.”

On the national level, he expects the Fight to End Hunger campaign to raise $190 million.

“I can tell you that around the world, every 3.5 seconds someone dies from hunger,” he said.

That statistic is being brought home with continued layoffs and business closings, which Schiff says is a visual reminder of the tough times many Rhode Islanders are falling on.

“I think everyone from the large foundations to just individuals have been hurt by one way or the other by the recession. I think more people are conscious of the seriousness of the problem,” he said.

Despite his fears, Schiff said that donations so far are still high and that regular donors continue to give. He is confident that residents will rise to the occasion.

“People have been unbelievably generous. I think the people who have jobs and who are working feel lucky and want to do something for people who are in need.”