New government figures show the number of hungry kids in the U.S. is growing.

The latest figures for 2007 indicate almost 700,000 children went hungry at some point last year.

That's up more than 50 percent from the year before.

Food banks across the country believe the numbers will continue to go up. One reason: record long lines at pantries and soup kitchens for much of this year.

"We've seen lines as long as 4,500 people long. It's amazing. People that never had to access food before, such as the elderly or working families, that have lost their jobs or maybe they're just working to make ends meet," Gary McDonald of Feeding America in San Diego explained.

Operation Blessing president Bill Horan says food banks and other groups are facing great odds because of recent circumstances.

"American charities focused on hunger relief are being battered by a perfect storm of events," he said. "A growing tidal wave of newly made poor, a sudden and deepening scarcity of donated food supplies and fuel prices that have our budgets underwater."