Charlie Lorenz, executive director of one of Oahu’s largest food-distribution charities, keeps track of the clients who come through the doors of the Kakaako warehouse. Every day they’ll see 25 to 35 new faces in the average-sized group of 300.

That, he said, tells him that the number of hungry people is on the increase. Similar observations have been noted at other food distribution sites within the Hawaii Foodbank network. Foodbank officials say there’s been a surge of clients that have drawn down the inventory to a supply hovering around eight to 10 days, when something closer to 15 days is more typical.

And it’s not only the homeless, he added. Some are hidden away in apartments. The nonprofit, once called the Giving Tree and now doing business as Feeding Hawaii Together, follows U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for income qualifications. An individual, for instance, can participate if he or she earns roughly $23,000 a year.

"What’s happening with people in that range, they pay their rent, they buy medication, then they have about one week’s money for food," he said. "Right under our noses, below these high-rises that are supposedly affordable housing, people are starving.

"They’re eating crackers, they’re eating dog food … these are people living on Social Security."

On the supply/demand imbalance there’s agreement, but there are varying theories about why there’s been such an increase. To Lorenz, the reason is clear: Income is persistently low, costs are high.

What nobody can say with any certainty is the degree to which cheaters who come in to grab the freebies have compounded the demand issues. Lorenz believes that percentage is around 1 to 3 percent of the whole. The other clients serve as "eyes and ears," he said, citing one episode when they recognized a woman who was picking up food as someone who owned a store.

"I told her, ‘You’re lucky I’m not calling the police right now,’" he recalled saying. "‘You are stealing food off people’s plates. They’re really hungry. Shame on you.’"

Dick Grimm, Hawaii Foodbank president and chief executive officer, set a somewhat higher level for the incidence of freeloading by people who have the means to pay their way.

"I think we’re turning into a nation of takers rather than a nation of helping ourselves," he said. "We don’t ask people what their income is, what they’re doing. We don’t have the time or staff to check everyone out. We have to go by their word.

"We’re here to help the people," Grimm added. "Insofar as helping the people, I have no problem.

"I get upset sometimes when I hear of abuse of the system," he said. "It’s probably under 10 percent abuse … but those few that abuse the system color the whole system."

State officials feel assured of one thing: Hawaii’s poor were unaffected by recent cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the federal benefit still known by its former label: "food stamps."

"SNAP allotments for the recipients are based on the average cost of living in a given state," said Kayla Rosenfeld, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, the agency that manages the benefit here. "In Hawaii, where food and general living costs is recognized as more expensive than the mainland, our base SNAP allotment is already higher than the mainland."

In addition, she said, federal stimulus funds kept payments stable through the recessionary years. Those have just ended, but the annual cost of living adjustment for Hawaii resulted in no payout reductions here, Rosenfeld said.

They actually increased slightly: From 2010 to 2013, Hawaii’s allotment was $314 per recipient per month. The COLA added in for fiscal year 2013 raised that to $319, and the latest adjustment on Nov. 1 resulted in a boost to $330.

The Hawaii Foodbank distributes food to more than 400 charities and other groups, about 12 million pounds of it in the 2013 fiscal year that ended in July. Feeding Hawaii Together is the largest operation: According to a report dated Oct. 13, that charity gave out more than 615,000 pounds in the first few months of the current fiscal year alone.

Rounding out the top five among the Foodbank’s member agencies are Lighthouse Outreach Center, Surfing the Nations, the Waianae branch of Honolulu Community Action Program and Sacred Heart Church in Waianae.

The problem isn’t really a lack of generosity from the Hawaii public, Grimm said. Year to date, the incoming supplies — donations as well as purchases — are up 8 percent over last year. But distribution has overtaken it: The food going out is up 13 percent over the same period, he said.

"But the people of Hawaii respond tremendously," he added. "We have a lot of community food drives going on."

One factor that may have stoked demand in recent years, Grimm said, is the improvement of the food quality itself. The Foodbank, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, gets most of its funds from its donations campaign, special events and grants.

Increasingly it has been using more of that money to purchase protein, Grimm said. And Hawaii gets a supply of "B" grade fresh produce — the kind that juicers purchase, he said — through an agreement between the California Food Bank Association and growers.

Almost 60 percent of what goes out is distributed through its Ohana Produce Plus Program, a collaboration with individual agencies to host distribution events in the communities. Many of the food pantries simply lack the space to store much inventory, Grimm said, so these events get out a lot of product to a lot of people at once.

And it can’t happen quickly enough to reach all the people who need the food, said the Rev. Joe Hunkin Jr., pastor of Lighthouse Outreach Hawaii. It’s all his staff can do to manage the work of distribution, so sorting out who needs food and who doesn’t is a judgment call they simply don’t try to make, he said.

"It’s more people now," Hunkin said. "There are different faces, I see a lot of different faces. … I drive around Waipahu. There’s a lot of homeless, a lot of homeless."

Over in Kakaako, Lorenz said, he sees circumstances the rest of society wants to deny. In addition to food, Feeding Hawaii Together also gathers donated household items to help people, including one senior who had been sleeping on the hard floor of her tiny apartment for a long time until the charity found some beds to give them.

"It’s these people, they’re in these apartments starving to death, and nobody knows it," he said. "A lot of people don’t want to face the fact that this is a reality."

The army of volunteers that works to alleviate hunger in Hawaii is made up of soldiers such as Diane Esecson, who coordinates the food pantry at Windward United Church of Christ. It’s a small operation, open only 10:30 a.m.-noon on Wednesdays, but Esecson said the team works to add a few grace notes to the food service. Sometimes they get can openers to give away — it’s hard to get along without one of those — and volunteers often prepare salad bags to add a little freshness to the meals.

There are prepared sandwiches and home-baked cookies to give out, too, she said.

"When are they going to have a cookie that was just made?" she asked. "They are so grateful for that."