Higher food prices, fixed retirement income and stagnant wages have all contributed to an increase in demand at some of northern New Hampshire’s food pantries, according to those who administer assistance to residents in those communities.

“Our food pantry is getting really low,” Denise Leighton, director of Vaughn Community Service in North Conway, said Wednesday.

“We give two weeks’ worth of groceries; that’s our goal,” she said. In July, she said, the food pantry assisted 75 households, 188 individuals, providing 7,938 meals. She doesn’t have the final figures for August yet, but said the month would likely be on par with July. “We’ve been busy.”

With the escalating price of groceries, she said, food stamps aren’t going as far. In the Mount Washington Valley, much of the employment is in the hospitality industry, where hours can vary greatly from one week to the next. A lot of the people that come in are working, but are still not able to make ends meet.

“All it takes is one thing to go wrong and your income doesn’t match your needs,” said Angela Martin-Giroux, Berlin’s welfare director. There are several food pantries in Berlin, and Giroux said she hasn’t had to refer more clients to them, because they already know the pantries are there.

“It doesn’t matter what your income is,” she said, adding that for most people, excluding the top one percent, income has not kept up with household expenses.

“It’s been pretty steady,” she said of welfare requests. Usually, she said, it drops off in the summer, but for the last couple of years it’s been steady year-round. Berlin, she said, has many residents living on fixed incomes. She said changes in state assistance have shrunk the resources of some, too.

“It’s been a hard year to keep on top of,” said Pat Laurino, parish administrator for the All Saints Church’s Emergency Food Cupboard in Littleton. “We’re seeing an increase in seniors,” as well as, she added, young families. She said that toward the end of 2011 the number of households the pantry was serving was in the low 100s. That number jumped to 274 in one recent month, with other monthly numbers coming in at 183, 232 and 263.

It’s an emergency food cupboard, and the food supplied — three meals a day — is meant to help tide the household over until the next paycheck, income, or other assistance, is received.

Laurino said that the All Saints food pantry receives 25 percent of its stock from the New Hampshire Food Bank, and 25 percent from Tri-County CAP. In the fall, she said, local people hold food drives, with Shaw’s supermarket and the Littleton Senior Center being very supportive.

Donations help, and she said that personal care items and cleaning supplies are always needed, along with pet food.

“So we try to provide some of that when we get it,” she said.

Berlin, Littleton and Conway each have more than one food pantry, most of which are connected with area churches.

In North Conway, Vaughn partners with the local radio station in late fall in an all-day, drive-through food drive. The annual event restocks the shelves at the Vaughn’s Reverence For Life Building and with seven other food pantries in the area, and also provides all the Thanksgiving fixings for food pantry clients. In 2011, the community donated more than 400 frozen turkeys.

The valley may need to donate more than that this year. Asked if the need has increased, Leighton replied, “Oh yes, it has, definitely.”

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Sara Young-Knox may be reached at syoungknox@newstote.com.