ORMOND BEACH -- Every day, paper bags full of groceries lined up like so many soldiers leave little space for walking inside the building of the Jewish Federation of Volusia & Flagler Counties -- but the war against hunger is getting tougher.

Tuesday morning, the federation reached the $100,000 mark for food bought this year to fill the shelves of the Jerry Doliner Food Bank, compared to the $69,000 spent last year. And those in line to pick up groceries now include people with college degrees.

Gloria Max, executive director, said she's not surprised that a study from Feeding America, a domestic food charity, last month found that just about a third of area children -- 29.1 percent in Volusia and 32.3 percent in Flagler -- were "food insecure," according to 2009 data. That means they were unable to consistently get meals to meet their nutritional needs.

"I hate to be pessimistic, but I don't see it getting any better," said Max, who has been with the federation for 18 years and has watched demand spike over the past two.

Heather Vickers, 27, a stay-at-home Orange City mother of two children, ages 2 and 7, said she has never had to ask for help. But for more than a year now, she's become familiar with the vagaries of government food programs, coupon-clipping and food banks. Her husband, a construction supervisor, was fired on their daughter's 6th birthday.

"It was a shock ... you think it's going to be over soon because he's such a hard-working guy. He's had some college education," she said.

It took about three months, but he found a job installing air conditioners, but at pay about a third of what he was making, she said. It's landed them in an odd place -- at a level where what they qualify for in government food assistance each month only gets them through a week. That makes her grateful for the bags of food that she gets at the Jewish Federation, she said.

"We've got too much money coming in to help where we need it the most," she said.

The rate of food insecurity in a country, which is bedeviled by expanding rates of childhood obesity, illustrates the paradox of living in a land of plenty, said Dr. Bonnie Sorensen, director of the Volusia County Health Department. She said she's not surprised to hear that the study shows so many children are going to bed hungry -- even with $1 value menus available at some fast-food restaurants.

"Folks who are food insecure often choose the cheapest foods and that is often not the most healthy," she said.

The study used data on poverty, unemployment and median income to determine how much food insecurity there might be.

Tom Strother, spokesman for Second Harvest food bank of North Florida in Jacksonville, said this study is the first to use child data that drills down to the county level and also looks at who might not be able to qualify for government food assistance. In Flagler, where 19.8 percent of the overall population is food insecure, 42 percent of those live above the threshold to receive food stamps, he said.

"You would think they would be able to afford it, but utility rates continue to climb, the price of gas continues to climb, along with the cost of medicine, the cost of clothing your children to send them to school. Those are hard costs," Strother said. "Sometimes the last thing that you are going to purchase is food. Sometimes food falls to the back of the list."

Amy Smith, 35, has always worked and been able to support her four kids, ages 8, 14, 15 and 18. With a degree in office administration from Daytona State College, she's been unemployed for seven weeks. Food stamps only pay her grocery bill for two weeks a month.

"Honestly, there are nights we've gone without," said Smith, who also receives groceries from the Jewish Federation.

Next, she'll be checking out being a medical assistant.

"Hopefully, soon things will get better," she said.

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WE CAN REALLY USE DONATIONS OF MONEY AT THIS CRITICAL TIME!

Gloria Max