Foodbank predicts tougher times ahead

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The generous spirit of the Miami Valley was evident during WDTN's Food for Friends campaign. So far 23,000 pounds of food have been weighed and contributions are still being added.

The Foodbank in Dayton supplies 85 organizations so your generosity is much appreciated. In the coming year without help from Congress the need is expected to be even greater.

Rosemary Dannin works at The Foodbank. "Well the conversation going on now is there are going to be more people who are going to be in the food lines.  Next year people's paychecks are going to be going down, they're going to have less disposable income. People are going to need more help and at the same time if Congress doesn't make a decision by Monday people might be  less likely to give as generously as they did this year," she told 2 NEWS.

Dannin works at the Foodbank which relies heavily on volunteers. Ironically this day it was a group from H & R Block that was packing boxes to go out to food pantries. David Blazo is the district manager of the Dayton, Springfield, Richmond area.  He understands the tax impact if Congress doesn't act.

Blazo said, "A big problem right now is AMT. It is called the alternative minimum tax. AMT was originally designed so it would only effect the higher income people however it effect many 34 million people would see a reduction in their tax refunds from $3,000 to $5,000."

The possibility that people won't get to deduct their charitable contributions also worries not-for-profit groups.

Dannin said, "We rely heavily on monetary donations. For every dollar we receive we can provide for 8 meals so that dollar is very important and it does get stretched.  If anybody wants to make a donation, now is the time."