For a partial explanation of why money is tight for many, consider two statistics from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics: over the past year, food prices have increased 6 percent and energy costs have risen by 27 percent.

These increases are putting a squeeze on many households and food cupboards are an important resort when people need assistance. Even in places where it is assumed that the population should be insulated against the worst of the economic blows, people are suffering.

Last July, the Pittsford Food Cupboard served 11 households in the 14534 zip code - that includes much of Pittsford and part of Perinton. This July, it served 22. Pittsford Food Cupboard Director Melinda Solazzo says she's unsure if it's a fluke or part of a trend.

Pittsford Food Cupboard serves six zip codes covering Pittsford, East Rochester, Brighton, and the southeast section of the city.

The agency's numbers are up in general. In July 2008, the cupboard served 217 households - up from 166 at the same time last year. In August 2008, it served 218 households - up from 150 in August 2007. The biggest increases, Solazzo says, have come from clients in the 14620 and 14607 zip codes in the city.

Foodlink serves food cupboards, soup kitchens, and shelters in the 10-county Genesee Valley and Finger Lakes area.  As a whole, those programs are assisting about 25 to 30 percent more households, based on the monthly reports that Foodlink gets from the agencies, says Tom Foster, Foodlink's quality and compliance coordinator. It's affecting rural, urban, and suburban areas equally, he says. Hunger is an equal opportunity problem, he says, from a single parent who loses a job or a family who has been squeezed by gas prices.

"If you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're just a paycheck away from needing to go to the food cupboard," Foster says.