With casinos folding, food pantries are tested

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Last year started out bad and only got worse for Jose and Karla Mercado.

Both worked at the Atlantic Club and lost their kitchen jobs last January when the casino became the first of four in Atlantic City to close.

They're still out of work, and with their unemployment benefits and food stamps exhausted, and their savings nearly depleted, their only relief comes from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey's branch here in Egg Harbor Township.

The Mercados are among 8,000 South Jersey families stung by the casino layoffs that the center, a nondescript yellow building at 6735 Black Horse Pike, is assisting.

"We've never seen this type of volume, particularly all at once," said the Community Food Bank's executive director, Evelyn Benton.

Food distribution was up 12.5 percent from July to November last year, compared with the same period in 2013, she said. That's a jump from 3.3 million pounds of food to 3.8 million pounds.

"There is a lot of shock," Benton said. "People weren't really expecting it, and it's really blindsided them. Virtually all of them have never been in this charitable system before."

Demand is so high that the food bank dispatched an extra mobile pantry to serve 470 families in nearby Galloway Township, another enclave heavily populated by casino workers.

Congress recessed last year without extending unemployment benefits beyond six months, eliminating a safety net that the Mercados were relying on to get them through spring, or until the casinos started hiring again for summer.

They have been coming to the food bank since October, when their benefits ran out, and fit a common profile where two spouses worked at a casino whose closing left them without household income.

"I've called everyone" for a job, Jose, 49, said last week as he and Karla, 37, filled a shopping cart, donated by Acme Markets, with canned vegetables, pasta, and bread at the food bank's pantry.

Jose Mercado, who worked at the Atlantic Club for 28 years, said he has called the city's eight remaining casinos, Viking Yachts in New Gretna to work on boats, and the Atlantic City Press to deliver the paper.

"No one has called me back," he said. "I feel everything at the same time - depression, anger, helplessness. But I believe in God and that he'll do something for me sooner or later. If you lose that, you have nothing."

Karla, who spent 15 years at the Atlantic Club, has filled out dozens of applications, including with retail stores like Boscov's, pharmacies, and elderly care centers.

"Nobody's called," she said. "Sometimes I want to cry. I feel so scared because after two more months we could lose our home."

The couple's son, Jose Joel Mercado, 19, graduated from high school in June and is also looking for a job.

"He knows it's hard," said his father.

Three states including New Jersey opted out of a provision in the federal Farm Bill last year called "Heat and Eat," resulting in the loss of $170 million for food-stamp recipients, most of whom are elderly and disabled.

"We have seen a tremendous increase because of that," Benton said, "and then we had the casinos on top of that."

The Community Food Bank so far has helped about 900 of the 8,000 casino families affected. It has secured funding for about $500,000 worth of food, specifically for laid-off casino workers who do not qualify for federal and state food aid.

That money is for so-called casino relief boxes - a 21-pound package that provides three meals a day, three days a week for a family of three. Larger families receive an additional box.

AtlantiCare Foundation, Atlantic City Electric, and TD Foundation provided funding for the packages.

When September came and three more casinos closed - Showboat, Revel, and Trump Plaza - Benton said the flood of need really accelerated.

"We saw an additional 500 families that month," she said.

Benton said her staff was closely monitoring the situation at the teetering Trump Taj Mahal. If that casino closes, an additional 3,000 jobs and families will be affected.

"There has been some shame and quite a bit of tears," Benton said.

By far, 2014 was the worst and longest year of Patrick Carroll's life.

"I'm just now coming out of my funk," he said as he and his 59-year-old wife, Christine, visited the food bank's pantry last week.

Carroll had worked as a table-games dealer at Atlantic Club for 30 years, mostly blackjack and baccarat.

When the casino folded in January, he and 1,700 others lost their jobs.

"It's impacted me tremendously," Carroll, also 59, said of being unemployed for a year. "There are no jobs out there. The [remaining] casinos are so picky. They have their pick. Age comes into play."

Carroll has applied for a job at Home Depot and Lowe's, among others.

Like the Mercados, he's had no bites.

To get by, he said he's had to dip into his 401(k) retirement, burning through about $70,000 the last year to pay creditors and his mortgage.

The hardest part, he said, was not having a place to go. He started working at 14.

"My whole life I've been working," Carroll said. "This hurts."

Many casino families weren't eligible for food assistance when they were first laid off because their incomes were too high last year, according to federal and state standards.

"We try to help them set up for the program when their unemployment [benefits] run out," said pantry manager Keith Gesler.

The food bank is expecting another large wave in March when those laid off in September will have exhausted their six months of unemployment benefits.

Unite Here Local 54, the casino workers' union, teamed with the Community Food Bank last fall to help displaced workers - including setting up a social services fair.

But with the hit on food-stamp funding from the Farm Bill, and the mass casino layoffs, food banks throughout the state feel the strain.

"There's been a growth in the need," said Tom Sims, chief development officer for the Pennsauken-based Food Bank of New Jersey, which serves Camden, Gloucester, Burlington, and Salem Counties.

"The economy has not improved and clearly an issue like the casinos has had an impact," he said. "People are trying to adjust and figure out what their next step is. Many can't quite uproot yet."

Behind the Mercados, Charles Grain, 58, a Yellow Cab driver from Atlantic City, pushed his food cart.

Grain has been driving cabs for 15 years, ferrying customers to and from the casinos.

Last week was his first trip to the Community Food Bank's pantry.

He said his fares since the fall had dwindled to almost nothing.

"Right now, drivers are turning in their taxis because they can't afford the overhead," Grain said. "A lot of cabbies have left Atlantic City and moved to Philadelphia, Maryland, and New York - where new casinos have sprung up."

Grain said there were 250 cab owners, limo and other transportation drivers in Atlantic City.

"With the loss of the casinos, there's not enough business to go around for everybody," he said.

On having to rely on the food bank for basic needs, Grain said: "It's definitely a blow to your self-esteem.

"At one time, I did really good. I was able to make a decent living in Atlantic City."