The State College Area Food Bank began distributing food for the holidays this week, marking the start of its busiest season during a year that has brought more clients to the food bank because of the economic downturn.

Linda Tataliba, a Penn State alumna and executive director of the food bank, has seen a 70 percent increase in the frequency of client visits this year. Many of the new clients have never had to use a food bank before, she said, but are now forced to because they lost their jobs or ran into hard times.

But Tataliba said the community has been generous and helpful, allowing the 276 W. Hamilton Ave. food bank to meet its new demand.

"Everybody has really stepped it up," she said. "The community here is phenomenal."

And Penn State students have played a leading role, she said. Fraternities have conducted food drives and gone trick-or-treating to collect candy for the food bank. Penn State's College of Agriculture has supplied the food bank with fresh produce throughout the summer, and the Penn State Student United Way has provided volunteers.

Eighty-five percent of the food donated to the food bank comes from sources in the community, with the other 15 percent coming from government agencies, Tataliba said.

The food bank began distributing holiday bags to its clients Wednesday. The bags had all the trimmings for a Thanksgiving dinner, including mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes and, of course, a turkey.

The scene at the food bank Wednesday was a hectic one. As volunteers and clients sorted through food, new donations came pouring in from a recent Boy Scouts food drive. The food bank does not turn down any donations, so the hallways in the building were used for excess storage space, with cases of tomato soup, grape juice and beans lining the walls.

In addition to the holiday bags, the food bank continued its regular distribution, handing out everything from canned goods, milk, eggs and bread to toothpaste, laundry detergent and diapers.

The food bank supports seven smaller food banks in Centre County, bringing in almost 300,000 pounds of food per year, Tataliba said.

The first day of holiday distribution was especially busy for volunteers like Denise Watts.

"It was wall-to-wall today, just nuts," she said.

The food bank has only two paid employees, so it depends heavily on the work of volunteers like Watts, Tataliba said.

Watts sat at a desk in a cramped back room answering phone calls, surrounded by stacks of boxed food. The phone rang off the hook.

But for her, it is all worth it.

"If you can put a smile on their face, it's a powerful feeling," she said. "It's a shared pleasure for me, and I feel like I'm getting back a lot more than I give."

Distribution runs through Nov. 25.