SOME Bermuda families wake up with no food in the home and no money to pay for any.

It may seem hard to believe that people are going hungry in the booming economy of 21st-century Bermuda, but Sheelagh Cooper of the Coalition for the Protection of Children (CPC) sees it every day.

Now the charity is launching the Breakfast For Every Child appeal to build up a stock of non-perishable foods to ensure some of its more desperate clients, especially those with young children, do not go hungry.

"We get about five calls a day on average from people who have no food in the house," Ms Cooper (pictured) said. "Poverty is Bermuda's biggest single problem and we have seen it getting progressively worse over the last few years.

"We see clients who have to choose between paying the rent, buying a bus pass, paying for a school uniform for a child, doing the laundry and buying food. We are helping them to make those decisions every day."

After Ms Cooper gave a talk at the accountancy firm KPMG about her work, the company's employees clubbed together to buy the CPC a ton of non-perishable food.

"That was a marvellous gesture from KPMG and most of that food has already gone, which shows how serious the problem is," Ms Cooper said.

"We are now asking that individuals and companies come forward with donations of non-perishable foods, or money to buy it with, so we that we can help Bermuda's poor to survive," Ms Cooper said.

"Every penny" of financial donations went to those in need, Ms Cooper stressed, as there was no rent for the CPC's office and its staff were unpaid.

She estimated that the CPC was helping some 600 families. Many were single-parent families, headed by a mother who worked in a job that did not pay enough to cover the bills.

Many people were falling through the Government safety net agencies, the Bermuda Housing Corporation, the Department of Financial Assistance and the Department of Family Services, she said, and charities were the last place they could turn to.

CPC has teamed with the Habitat for Humanity Bermuda to work on a study aimed at quantifying the magnitude of poverty on the island.

Among the survey's findings so far is that the gap between the wealthiest 20 per cent and the poorest 20 per cent is increasing and by 2004 had reached $200,000 annually.

And while housing costs had risen by 90 per cent since 1993, there had been a rise of only 62 per cent in the weekly income of middle-income Bermudians over the same period. It also found that 50 per cent of households headed by a black female were classed as poor or near poor.

"The days when a few kind teachers could help children with no lunch are gone. The philanthropic efforts of individuals are no longer enough. Poverty is a huge problem and the time has come for Bermuda to tackle it in a serious and organised way."

l Any person or company who wishes to donate food or money to the Breakfast For Every Child appeal can contact CPC on 295-1150, or take their donation to the CPC office at 38 Mount Hill (off Berkeley Road) in Pembroke.

Read more in a special report on page 7