BY TERRY JOHNSON

Hunger used to track Curtis Guess as if he had stolen something from it.

When the hungry across the Delaware Valley are counted, Guess is among those numbers.

At lunchtime, he shows up at the Church of the Advocate on Diamond Street where he eats a free hot lunch in a dining room filled with mostly single men.

For dinner, Guess, 48, lines up at Bright Hope Baptist Church near Temple University, where he gobbles down his second hot meal of the day.

“I see a lot of people from my neighborhood over here,” he said in reference to the Church of the Advocate, which is well known for its service to the community.

“There is my older brother right there,” he said pointing at another man with a plate full of steaming food and a slice of cake for dessert.

“People I thought was doing good are eating over here too because they lost their jobs or their employers moved out of town,” added Guess, who lives in the 2000 block of Carlisle Street.

The Rev. Kevin R. Johnson said his church, Bright Hope Baptist, serves a maximum of 250 meals a day and that it always reaches its limit.

“I think that tells you a lot about what is happening out there,” he said. “People start lining up to be served at about 5:20 p.m., and it is a long line.

“I’m starting to see new faces in the line. The other day I saw a white couple,” he added.

What scares Bill Clark, the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger*, are the new faces showing up at pantries and soup kitchens.

“What we are seeing is a tsunami of suffering,” said Clark.

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*Article Correction: The executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger is Carey Morgan.