Hard Facts:

In 2004, America's Second Harvest conducted a national hunger study, based on in-person interviews with more than 32,000 clients, nearly 24,000 feeding programs served by 104 food banks, including the Boston Food Bank. The results provide insight into the face of hunger in America, such as:

* 39% of households served by America's Second Harvest food banks are children under 18 years old
* 11% served are elderly
* 39% of households include at least one employed adult
* 64% have incomes at or below official poverty levels
* Only 6% are receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and only 8% receive General Assistance
* Only 10% are homeless
* 43% of clients report having to choose between paying for food and paying heat/utilities
* 30% receive Food Stamps; however it is likely more are eligible
* 58% of agencies report that there has been an increase since 1998 in the number of clients who come to  their sites
* Approximately four million American children under age 12 go hungry.

* 13.6 million children under age 12 in the United States -- 29 percent -- live in families that must cope with hunger or the risk of hunger during some part of one or more months of the previous year.

* In 93 percent of the cities surveyed, emergency food assistance was relied on both in emergencies and as a steady source of food over long periods of time.

* Low-paying jobs, unemployment and employment-related problems led the list of causes of hunger, although 38 percent of the adults requesting food assistance were employed. Other causes of hunger frequently cited were food stamp cuts, poverty or lack of income, and low benefits in public assistance programs.

Food banks served 2.7 million people and soup kitchens over one million people.