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A man came into our food pantry one night last week. He arrived late, several hours late, but the church was open for some evening activities. He asked if we could help - he was so hungry.

The man said it hurt to be as hungry as he was, a deep empty pain, here, pointing to his stomach. His desperate eyes begged me to help. I bagged up some soup, some canned meat and some milk, enough to take off the edge of his hunger and maybe hold him through a couple of days.

There was another man, a few weeks ago. He hadn't eaten in several days ... could he just have a can of Spam and a fork?

And a woman, embarrassed, her first time. She'd been laid off, and she couldn't make her money stretch enough to feed her family any more.

Last week, our pantry distributed food to 47 families, a total of 153 people, in five days. Last month, we fed more families, more people than we ever had since the food pantry started - 412 hungry men, women and children. Last year, the numbers for February were half that - 228 people.

People are hungry. Our pantry numbers started to creep up last summer when the Snettisham station was damaged by an avalanche, and electric costs soared. Summers are difficult for families on tight budgets, anyway ... subsidized food programs in school, providing children breakfast or lunch disappear during the summer break. The fall brought national economic news that continues to affect industry, banks, jobs, and homes. In January, another avalanche piled on higher electric bills in a cold and snowy winter, that made the demands of electricity even higher. And people are hungry.

Our food pantry doesn't offer anything very fancy, and there isn't a lot of variety. Spam, tuna, soup, mac and cheese, peanut butter, spaghetti, chili, oatmeal, rice and canned veggies. Week in and week out, people come and are thankful for what we can offer them. We are grateful to the Southeast Alaska Foodbank, where we sometimes can find lettuce, milk, carrots, and bread to supplement our standard items. However, the stores that supply the Foodbank with products are also experiencing tighter budgets, and have less surplus to distribute.

People are hungry. Their hunger is real. It is a deep, empty pain. It is fear. It is going without so that the kids can eat. It is here, in Juneau.

As Easter approaches, and feasts of ham and potatoes and deviled eggs and chocolate bunnies are planned, remember the hungry ones. Contribute to a food pantry or the Southeast Alaska Foodbank, or the Glory Hole. It will make a difference. And it matters. Because people are hungry.

• Sue Bahleda is pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church.