Seattle has begun to see a change in the type of people who are coming in for food bank services - people with their pressed slacks and white button down shirts are no longer a rare sight amongst the usual consumers.

As gas and food prices dramatically increase, food banks are getting hit by the economic blow as well as are Seattle families. However food banks are finding alternative ways to support the gradual increase of those seeking assistance.

"On average we have about 525 families that come in a week ... household visits from January to July 2008 are up 21 percent," said Fran Yates executive director of the West Seattle Food Bank. "West Seattle's a great community and we've been working hard to get donations so we're up about 12 percent from last year."

However, Yates still sees quite a gap from where they were as far as donated food and household visits upon comparison.

But, unfortunately, in order to compensate for the gap they have been making a lot more food purchases - and have doubled the pounds of food they bought this year over last year. Income sources come partially from city funding, but mostly from private donations, foundation money and fund raising.

"In dollars we are up 85 percent as far as how much we've spent in the same period last year," said Yates. "We've been doubling the poundage but we rarely buy fresh food. Buying fresh milk was a luxury, but what we've found is that keeping up with the basics like oatmeal, rice, pasta and canned tuna is more cost effective."

West Seattle Food Bank has a budget for food and has been hoping that while their food budget goes up they can make purchases like milk and eggs, which is a bit of an indulgence when the bank is feeding about 525 to 550 families a week.

Nancy McKinney, executive director of the Ballad Food Bank, said she isn't seeing exactly what the city as a whole is seeing on the increase of household visits.

A Seattle P-I story recently noted, "Inflation is making it impossible for emergency food providers to maintain the status quo, much less meet demand, which is up 13 percent across Seattle and 30 percent at some food banks."

Ballard has been seeing a gradual 23 percent increase in clientele in July of 2008 over last year.

"Our meal program hasn't seen a huge increase yet - we are serving between 100 and 200 at lunch three times a week," McKinney said.

Unlike West Seattle, Ballard does not purchase any of their food and solely relies on donations from grocery stores all over Seattle, plus Food Life Line and Northwest Harvest.

"It seems like the need is being built on what we're recovering (from grocery stores), but the balance is working just right," she said. "We're getting new people jumping on for produce and pea patches and that's a huge chunk of fresh food."

However, Ballard Food Bank is getting low on canned food.

McKinney said people are taking more because they need more food - the first thing to go before rent and utilities when budget are cut.

Both of the food banks have seen an increase in senior citizens.

"I've noticed a lot of elderly people who live on fixed incomes," McKinney said. "Them being retired and their chances of finding a job or being able to work are pretty small, so their depending on our home delivery or coming into the food bank."

In West Seattle, the Food Bank has seen a 41 percent increase in seniors using its services, which they see as a high percentage increase. Yates said that price increases, especially on food really hit people on fixed incomes in a really big way.

Transportation and delivery of donations is also an essential service and both banks have vans that help pick up a lot of the food.

"We have a van that goes out five days a week and it goes around to local grocery stores, Starbucks, Cupcake Royale and different places for donations," said Yates. "We have a new van we bought about a year ago which is bigger, so that helps a little bit as far as the number of trips we can make. It's a little more efficient in the time it takes to pick up donations."

But with the increase in gas costs, both West Seattle and Ballard have seen an impact on their expenses. McKinney said gas prices are affecting them and is definitely a concern in maintaining their vans.

"Things are going to get worse before they get better, so I think we're going to keep seeing our numbers creep up and we're going to have to figure out how we're going to deal with that," said McKinney.

West Seattle Food Bank plans to prepare itself by seeking more grants, producing a newsletter with a donation envelope, being more assertive with fundraising efforts and encouraging more food drives.

This past May it had a major dinner fundraising event which Yates said helped finish off the last fiscal year on a good note.

This upcoming holiday season, Yates and McKinney say it is a time of year where shelves go bare and both appreciate the support their communities have given them in the past and hope for the same support again this year.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 783-1244 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.