Ore. food nonprofit says families in need on rise

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A Marion County nonprofit is helping to feed a growing number of families who rely on emergency food supplies.

The nonprofit Marion-Polk Food Share distributed 8,100 food boxes between March and September of this year, up from 6,448 in the same period last year, the Salem Statesman Journal reports (http://stjr.nl/tBGN8F ).

One food box includes a three- to five-day emergency food supply of fresh produce, milk and frozen meat.

Nonprofit president Ron Hays says the growing number of families relying on the food stores mirrors a rise in local unemployment.

Hays says families typically receive an emergency food box about three times a year.

The agency says a total of 88,742 of emergency food boxes were given to low-income families in the last fiscal year.