A small study on hunger in the state by five University of Maine honor students offers less a conclusion than a warning. The study demonstrates that the problem of hunger is not exclusive to the Third World or to destitute urban areas. Hunger exists in Maine, and Maine communities increasingly will be compelled to deal with the problem within their boundaries.

The students’ semester-long study compares the volume of food given away during two months in 1989 and in 1990, and finds a sharp increase this year over last; the two-month 1990 figure for soup kitchens alone was up 68.5 percent over 1989. Further, the study reports that most of the organizations giving away food opened in the last decade, suggesting a growing need for their services.

Among the leading reasons for needing assistance, according to the 67 surveys returned to the study group from food-aid programs, were such commonplace problems as the high cost of living, fuel costs and rent. The close-to-home difficulties seemed to surprise the students, who, after completing the study, had these comments:

I began to realize that victims of hunger were not so far away.

— Diane Roy

Hunger comes in many forms. In Maine it comes often in the form of chronic hunger. — Timothy O’Brien

Now I am able to see hunger as it really is, a growing problem in our state and nation. — Stephanie Jones

Most of us are just not aware of the number of people who are going without adequate nutrition in our own communities.

— Jean Andrews

I never realized the magnitude of the problem until I came face to face with the victims and the organizations that try to help them.

— Susan Priest

Before their work, the students, like most of us, probably didn’t recognize the extent of the problem of hunger in Maine because it did not manifest itself in an obvious way. Their work is important not only to themselves but for anyone looking to gauge the quality of life within the state.

William H. Whitaker, associate professor of social work at UMaine and leader of the study, said he has little doubt that a growing number of Mainers need food-assistance programs. Federal programs such as Food Stamps and subsidized school lunches were sharply reduced in the 1980s, leaving the hungry with fewer places to seek help. Whitaker sees a higher minimum wage and a reinstatement of the reduced federal programs as a partial answer to the problem of hunger.

In 1989, soup kitchens and food pantries in Maine spent more than $370,000 supplying the hungry with food. Only a few were forced temporarily to close their doors because of a lack of funds, but such a predicament could become more common if the increase in demand continues. This is particularly serious because these food-aid organizations, most of which have no restrictions on who qualifies for help, often are the last place people turn to for help.

The study was the first of its kind in Maine, and Whitaker said he hopes to follow up with more detailed research about the often-ignored segment of Maine’s population. Understanding who depends on the various social, church and public organizations for help is essential to solving the problem, which is likely to grow more acute under current federal policy.