NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Last December, Marcia Stein, the executive director of Citymeals-on-Wheels, got a call from Barbara Picower saying her Picower Foundation would be giving the New York food charity $100,000.

Five days later, the foundation sent an e-mail saying the check was not coming because its investments had been wiped out in the $65 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff, one of its money managers. That check represented more than 15,500 meals. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for masterminding the scheme.

Citymeals, which delivers meals to the elderly, also lost donors employed at Bear Stearns & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., both of which went bankrupt. Last year, Citymeals had a $4 million deficit, and sagging donations have kept its budget flat this year at $18 million while demand for its meals has increased.

"With Bear Stearns gone, that was 90,000 meals we had to figure out how to fund," Stein said in a phone interview. "These grants were long-term things. It was like push a button, make a call, and then came the checks."

Food banks and soup kitchens from New York to Seattle are seeing a decline in donations as the US economy endures the worst slump of the post-World War II era. With the US job market slashed by 7.2 million since December 2007, food agencies are seeing longer lines for meals and food assistance. A survey of 146 charities released last week by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University shows that about 40 percent of them had fewer repeat donors.

"It's like walking in quicksand because we are getting new donors but the need has increased," said Anthea Pennant, director of development for Feeding South Florida, a non-profit based in Pembroke Park, Florida, that serves 800 food banks. "There are people who are volunteers for us who are now recipients."

Lisa Jakobsberg, vice-president of marketing and business partnerships at the Food Bank for New York City, said there are now "people with suitcases and briefcases standing in line" for food", at their distribution centres.

"Without a soup kitchen, I would die of hunger," said a soiled and wet Alexander Sologub, 47, an Eastern Orthodox Church priest, who came in the rain to Shelter and Food for the Homeless. The charity is supported by City Harvest, a New York nonprofit that distributes more than 25 million pounds of food to the needy annually.

At the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the average individual donation this year fell to $176 from $217, executive director Kate Maehr said in a phone interview. In September, a record 450,000 people in Cook County sought food aid, she said.

Food banks are asking the public, restaurateurs and corporations to create awareness about the shortage, and appealing to the public for smaller donations.

Citymeals launched a new programme this fall called "Text a Turkey", which allows anyone to use a text message to donate $5 that will be used to purchase a holiday meal.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP canceled its Christmas parties in the US this year and gave the $1.55 million it had set aside for them to charities including California food banks such as the Sacred Heart Community Service in San Jose and the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Service.

"Everyone now believes what a priority this is," Rob Gittings, a PricewaterhouseCoopers managing director in San Jose, California, said in a phone interview.

Chef Eric Ripert, owner of the three-star Le Bernardin in New York, is donating $1 for every lunch and dinner he serves this year to City Harvest. The Food Bank for New York City has enlisted its board members such as chef Mario Batali and actor Stanley Tucci to entice their friends and the public for more donations.

The Chicago Food Depository has gotten extra fundraising help from chefs Rick Bayless of the Frontera Grill, the West Town Tavern's Susan Goss and the Custom House's Aaron Deal.

"I have a huge knot in my stomach at this time of the year because 40 percent of our support comes this month," Maehr said. "Right now, we're about even, but one day can change that dramatically."