About 360,000 Maryland residents sought emergency food assistance last year, reflecting a trend that defies relatively prosperous economic times, according to a study released by America's Second Harvest, the nation's primary food bank network.

The number of people served in Maryland was 11 percent greater last year than in 2001, when the private, nonprofit food bank group conducted its last major study.

The study surveyed 671 soup kitchens, pantries and other organizations that use resources from the Capital Area Food Bank or the Maryland Food Bank, which are local affiliates of the national network. The study provides the most detailed look ever at those suffering from hunger, said Bill Ewing, the Maryland Food Bank's director.

"We've been through these really strong years in our economy, and we still have this population of people," Ewing said. "We are not making progress." The people who sought help defied stereotypes, with homeless people accounting for only about 5 percent of clients. About 30 percent of those who received aid were children, and 48 percent were from households in which at least one adult was employed.

"One of the things we've noticed in the past three or four years is the growth of poverty in the suburbs," Ewing said. "As people in the counties start to lose income, you'll start to see more of it."

Demand at the Southern Maryland Food Bank has continued to rise dramatically into the new year. The agency distributed 20,000 pounds of goods to area pantries in January. That volume jumped to 26,000 pounds in February.

The increase was driven largely by rising gas and oil prices during the already costly winter months, said Brenda DiCarlo, program supervisor for the Southern Maryland Food Bank, a branch of Catholic Community Services.

"To live in Southern Maryland -- house payments, rents, land taxes are just astronomical," DiCarlo said. "Families that maybe five to 10 years ago thought they were making out pretty good on their income are struggling these days."

That assessment was echoed by Greg Clark, senior program manager for the Charles County Family Center in La Plata.

DiCarlo said she expects the increase to continue through the summer, when children are out of school and do not have the same regular access to free breakfast and lunch programs.

Shepherd's Table, a nonprofit center in suburban Silver Spring in Montgomery County that provides dinners and services such as counseling, referrals for medical care and a clothing closet, experienced a dramatic growth in demand last year.

"In 2000, we were probably having 13,000 contacts a year," said Jacki Coyle, executive director of Shepherd's Table. In 2005, "there were about 24,000." Many families surveyed said they had to choose between buying food and medicine and paying their rent, mortgage and utilities.

"When you're living in the D.C. metro area and the cost of things keeps going up, you have to begin to make decisions about how to spend your money," Coyle said. "We see a lot of people, even though [Montgomery] is a very affluent county."

Maryland is served by two food banks in America's Second Harvest's network -- the Capital Area Food Bank, which serves the Washington suburbs, and the Maryland Food Bank, which serves the rest of the state.

This year's report is part of the study "Hunger in America 2006," released two weeks ago by America's Second Harvest. An introduction to the report says it is the most comprehensive study of domestic hunger ever, comprising interviews with officials at 30,000 charitable agencies and more than 50,000 clients.

More than 25 million Americans used food banks, soup kitchens and shelters affiliated with America's Second Harvest last year, 9 percent more than in 2001. Robert Forney, the organization's president, said in the introduction to the report that hunger affects "our nation's cities and small towns, our wealthy suburbs and our poorest communities. Hunger impacts families with jobs and the elderly with medical needs. This study supports the notion that hunger in America does not discriminate."

The researchers noted that the study was based on a sample of food bank use last spring that projected use for the year. Because it was conducted before Hurricane Katrina in August, the number of food bank users probably is even larger than the study suggests.

Ewing, of the Maryland Food Bank, said the post-Katrina images of desperation reminded him of the less-publicized plight that hungry people face daily. "They're abandoned," Ewing said. "They feel like nobody cares. And they're absolutely right."

Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan firm that analyzes data on public policy issues, coordinated the study. Advisers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau, the Heritage Foundation, several universities and other organizations oversaw the study. The national study can be found at http://www.hungerinamerica.org/ and the Maryland study at http://www.mdfoodbank.org/ .

This week through Saturday, the Maryland Food Bank is conducting the largest food drive in Maryland. The Harvest for the Hungry Letter Carrier Week Food Drive allows Marylanders to leave a bag of food by their mailbox for their local Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or letter carriers to pick up .