Juán Alatorre rarely used food banks to before this fall.

But after losing his job as a truck driver at AMF Farms in Burlington, he joined the growing number of families coming to Skagit County’s 13 food banks.

Wednesday afternoon, Alatorre came to the Helping Hands Food Bank in Sedro-Woolley because he needed to save what little money he had for electricity.

“If I don’t get a job now, I can barely pay my bills,” Alatorre said. “The little food at the food bank gives me help.”

Many in line with Alatorre face the same situation — no job, no prospects and plenty of bills.

It’s those two words that everyone standing in line, and everyone handing out the food, blame for the problem — “the economy.” Along with rising food prices and high gas prices that only recently started to fall, food banks in Skagit County are getting more clients, but fewer donations.

Community Action Resource Coordinator Justin Keefe said that from July 2007 to July 2008, area food banks served 12,848 households. That compares with 8,995 from 2006 to 2007. Many people they’re seeing now have never been to a food bank before, Keefe said.

“It’s clients who never thought this would be an issue for them,” said Sarah Welty of the Skagit County Community Action Agency. “It’s families who thought they were stable, but found out maybe they’re not.”

Community Action has plenty of anecdotal evidence that people in the lower-middle class are increasingly struggling. Keefe said he receives a lot of calls from people unfamiliar with the services available to them.

Alatorre said he started coming to the food bank in Sedro-Woolley for the first time this year, and a few of his neighbors started coming out for the first time this month.

Terry and Katy Carter of the Helping Hands Food Bank confirmed the trend in the data they collect every week.

Starting in June, they implemented a computer tracking system that noted whenever new clients came through. In the last week of October, the food bank received 465 people, of which 68 were new. Since summer ended, they’ve had between 50 and 70 new people each week.

The growing need has come without a significant increase in food and monetary donations. Measured in pounds, Keefe said that Skagit County food banks have consistently brought in 1.6 to 1.7 million pounds of food each year since 2005 and is remaining there even as the demand grows.

Food banks have not run out of food, but they’re getting close, Keefe said.

“If there’s a reduction, it means every family is going to get a little bit less, but each family is going to get something,” Keefe said.

Food banks eked through the summer, but a surge in demand in October stretched resources.

In October, Helping Hands had 7,635 visits, up more than 2,000 from September and up more than 1,000 from the October 2007.

Neighbors in Need in Mount Vernon went up 1,000 clients from September, serving 5,082 clients in October.

At Anacortes 100, Manager Belinda Dye is operating month to month just like her clients.

“When we get down where it’s really, really low, I’ll order food and just hope there’s money for it,” Dye said.

She ran very low at the end of October and luckily received donations from several Anacortes elementary schools that had organized a food drive.

But food banks may not be able to make it last through this month. At Helping Hands, the Carters are just trying to get enough food for a special Thanksgiving meal for their customers. Without a major change in donations, there will be little left for Christmas, they said.

They typically give out turkeys for Thanksgiving and hams for Christmas, but have projected that they only have enough money for the turkeys. Terry Carter said he bought 700 turkeys last year, and unless something changes, he’ll only buy 500 this year.

To help solve the problem, Community Action and area food banks are trying to get the word out that they need help.

“We just want the community to be aware of this ever-increasing need,” Welty said. “With the economic downturn, we’ll see more reliance on food banks. If we’re not here, that’s when people start falling through the cracks. Especially with the holidays quickly approaching, we need to make sure the word is out.”

• Aaron Burkhalter can be reached at 360-416-2141 or .