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LATE LAST YEAR, Tamar Auber was forced to turn away a family that had come to her Brooklyn food pantry for help. Since then, 647 other families have been turned away from the Fort Greene facility - not because they don't qualify for free food, but because the pantry's shelves are bare.
"My greatest fear is that we will have to close the door for good," says Ms. Auber, director of the Hanson Place United Methodist Church food pantry.
Similar concerns are suddenly looming large at many emergency food organizations across the city. Facing severe cutbacks in donations of both groceries and money, food pantries are limiting their hours, reducing the amount of food they give out and turning people away.
Others are running up deficits as they scramble to make up for short-falls by buying supplies themselves. Meanwhile, demand for free provisions is ballooning as the economy slows.
The crisis has been building since late last year, when organizations received fewer holiday donations of everything from turkeys and hams to cash.
"People weren't bringing us food; then the people who normally give us a financial donation disappeared,"...