Most weeks she forages for milk, fruit and vegetables in dumpsters outside the Safeway supermarket. One day last month she waited in line with 147 others outside the Douglas Area Food Bank for a grocery handout because she had no bread.

“We have to put up with a lot of humiliation just to survive,” she said, putting on a pair of sunglasses to hide tears. “It’s not dignified but we are hungry and hunger is ugly.”

At a giant warehouse in Monroe, Georgia, scores of volunteers and paid workers using fork lifts or pallet jacks load food onto big trucks — everything from carrots to frozen spare ribs to canned goods.

The warehouse is part of Angel Food Ministries, a national organisation headquartered in Monroe that offers food at half price to people who need it. A typical food pack contains $60 of family groceries and is sold for $30.

The organisation, which is linked to a church, purchases food in bulk at a discount and passes the savings on to 500,000 families a month who use its service in 35 states, distributing through a network of churches.

Its founder, Joseph Wingo, argued that perceptions that the U.S. economy was doing better than is reported failed to take into account a different reality for millions of Americans, not least senior citizens.

•Demand at food banks in the United States is up 15 per cent to 20 per cent over last year

•Many food banks are having difficulty coping with rising demand

... contd.