For most people, Memorial Day weekend means summer cookouts and trips to the beach, but for the area's food banks and soup kitchens, it marks the beginning of the leanest time of the year.

And this year, it's even worse.

Many are experiencing a shortfall already since summer is naturally a high-demand season and now there are new troubles, including:

* more people to feed because of the influx of new residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina;

* a shortfall in donations from last year when many gave to national charities instead of local ones;

* and gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon, making it more pricey for the charities to transport food and also forcing more people to choose between buying food and paying for other things.

"We beg, plead and borrow," said Tamara Gregory, executive director of Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen in Raleigh. "We go into our own pockets sometimes."

Already, the pantry at Shepherd's Table is depleted, especially when compared with its flush post-holiday state, which typically gets the nonprofit comfortably through March. The nonprofit has seen a 12 percent increase in the number of meals served in its second quarter alone.

"Our pantry probably holds 800 cans of food," Gregory said. "We're down to 200. By the end of June, we'll probably be down to 50."

Giving isn't on people's minds during the summer months the way it is during the holidays, said Jill Staton Bullard, president of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.

"People are on vacation," she said. "They're spending money on camp and things."

Demand is driven even higher by families with children who are out of school.

"Usually low-income students have one or two meals at school that are subsidized, and then during the summer they don't have it," Staton Bullard said.

But this year, with gas prices on the rise, food banks and soup kitchens are really suffering, some reduced to serving peanut butter sandwiches because that's all they can afford.

Not only do higher gas prices mean more expenses to transport the food, but they mean another boost in demand for services.

"When we see an increase in gas prices, typically we see an increase in people who are having to make a decision between filling their cars and buying food," said Maura Daly, spokeswoman for Chicago-based America's Second Harvest, a national network of food banks and food rescue operations.

Some retailers are trying to help. June 6 is America's Second Harvest's National Hunger Awareness Day, and several stores are hosting food drives.

Beginning Sunday, Kroger began its "Bringing Hope to the Table" campaign, which aims to donate $4 million to America's Second Harvest.

About 1,900 items in Kroger stores including major brands -- like Kellogg's, Keebler, Coca-Cola, Energizer and Chef Boyardee -- are all designated with pink "participating item" tags.

When a customer buys one, the manufacturer and Kroger make a donation to the cause. The donations will be made nationally, and the amount each local charity gets depends on the number of Kroger stores it works with in the area. Kroger's promotion runs through June 10, and Food Lion will run a similar promotion beginning June 6.

However, even big donations are rapidly exhausted, said Christy Simmons, spokeswoman for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern N.C., which provides food and assistance to agencies in 34 counties.

"We had a food drive a few weeks ago with the post office letter carriers and collected 325,000 pounds of food," she said. "That food will probably last maybe six weeks."