25 million points of blight

WASHINGTON -- When Lisa Koch asked several people eating at a Chicago soup kitchen to complete a survey of their situations, she got a surprising response: "They asked how long it would take because they had to get back to work after lunch."

A national survey of people getting food at soup kitchens, food banks and shelters found that 36 percent came from households in which at least one person had a job. In the Chicago area, it was 39 percent.

"Even though the economy might be changing, it isn't creating the kinds of jobs that allow people to make ends meet," said Koch, of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

More than 25 million Americans turned to the nation's largest network of food banks, soup kitchens and shelters for meals last year, up 9 percent from 2001, says the report by America's Second Harvest....

The surveys were done before hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. After the hurricanes, demand for emergency food assistance tripled... AP See also.