Lines are longer these days at the Downtown Food Closet at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.

The volunteer-run Food Closet has gone from a daily clientele of about 50 to as many as 100 in the past three months, said Philip Dah, who manages the Food Closet for the nonprofit InnVision as well as oversees day services at Palo Alto's Opportunity Center for the homeless.

"We've had all of our regulars who have been coming for years and years and years," said volunteer Susan Bertelson, who manages the program on Tuesdays. "Then there are a few new people who come each day and say, 'I've been laid off.' So the economy is making a difference."

Clients are allowed to come twice a week for a bag of groceries, which a volunteer custom-packs with whatever the Food Closet has on its shelves -- canned tuna, a ziplock bag of Corn Flakes, canned fruit and vegetables, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

Fresh produce is available but varies from day to day, depending on what has been donated. On Tuesday, the Food Closet had cherries, kiwi and some watermelon pieces as well as lettuce and other produce left over from a farmers market at Lytton Gardens.

Pickings vary but tend to be best around the winter holidays, Bertelson said. The Food Closet gets about half its supplies from Second Harvest Food Bank and also gleans from grocery stores. But the community -- schools, churches, scout troops, individuals -- "is very generous."

At the Opportunity Center, there's been a 15 percent increase in the number of people seeking drop-in services such as snacks, showers, laundry, use of a computer lab and health consultations, Dah said. The daily number, formerly about 100 people, is now about 115, he added.