"The group surveyed was better educated and more affluent, relative to the people who are usually unemployed in this country," Cliff Zukin, a Rutgers professor of public policy and co-author of the study, said by phone.

The percentage of households in the U.S. using food stamps has more than doubled in 6 of the nation's 10 wealthiest counties, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"I see people who look like they would be on a lunch break from work," said Violet DeSantis, 46, an unemployed worker in San Francisco who became a volunteer at the St. Anthony Foundation's dining room, which she also turned to for food. "I wouldn't have ever imagined that they would look like that."

The Atlas of Giving LLC forecasts that donations will rise 4.9 percent in 2012, said Rob Mitchell, chief executive of the Dallas-based company. Still, high unemployment "will have a lingering impact" on giving for at least two years, he said.

At Fisherman's Mark, a social-services center in Lambertville, New Jersey, some of the out-of-work regulars have doctoral degrees and "drive up in luxury cars such as Mercedes- Benz," says Gina Davio, Fisherman Mark's program director of social services, by phone. The nonprofit's Hunterdon County had a median household income of $97,874, the highest in the state and the fourth-highest in the U.S. Hunterdon's food-stamp usage rose 513 percent between 2007 and 2010.

"One guy who came in worked at a plant where he made hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he got cut, and I see a lot of people who have a great amount of job experience and big salaries," Davio said. "I see women coming in designer clothes such as Ralph Lauren and who are physically fit."

The rising cost of food-pantry staples such as peanut butter, one of the most requested items by families with children, has "put more strain" on St. Mary's Food Bank's financial resources, Shannon said. The cost of peanut butter distributed in about 40,000 food boxes monthly has increased 15 percent to 20 percent during the past three years.

Although Citymeals-on-Wheels has boosted its fundraiser efforts, direct-mail donations are down about 2.4 percent from a year ago, executive director Beth Shapiro said by phone.

"December is a nail-biting month for us," said Jilly Stephens, executive director of City Harvest, about her hunger charity, which raises 42 percent of its budget between November and January. "It feels like we're always pushing hard, and we continue to see more New Yorkers turning to emergency food."

 

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