Hard Facts:

HOW MANY CLIENTS RECEIVED EMERGENCY FOOD FROM THE NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF FOOD BANKS?

• In 2008, The Nationwide Food Pantry system served an estimated 24 to 27 million unduplicated people annually, with a midpoint of 25.3 million. This includes 22 to 25 million pantry users, 1.2 to 1.4 million kitchen users, and 0.8 million shelter users.
• Approximately 4.5 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the Nationwide Food Pantries system in any given week.

                                                               WHO RECEIVES EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE?

Nationwide Food Pantries serve a broad cross-section of households in America. Estimates of key characteristics include:
• 36.4% of the members of households served by food banks are children under 18 years old.
• 8% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years.
• 10% of the members of households are elderly.
• About 40% of clients are non-Hispanic white; 38% are non-Hispanic black, and the rest are from other racial groups. 17% are Hispanic .
• 36% of households include at least one employed adult .
• 68% have incomes below the official federal poverty level during the previous month.
• 12% are homeless.

                       MANY Nationwide Food Pantries CLIENTS ARE FOOD INSECURE OR ARE EXPERIENCING HUNGER

• Among all client households served by emergency food programs, 70% are estimated to be food insecure, according to the U.S. government’s official food security scale. This includes client households who are food insecure without hunger and those who are food insecure with hunger.
• 33% of the clients are experiencing hunger.
• Among households with children, 73% are food insecure and 31% are experiencing hunger.

                            MANY CLIENTS REPORT HAVING TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FOOD AND OTHER NECESSITIES

• 42% of clients served by the Nationwide Food Pantries National Network report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.
• 35% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage
• 32% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.

                    DO Nationwide Food Pantries CLIENTS ALSO RECEIVE FOOD ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNMENT?

• 35% of client households served by Nationwide Food Pantries are receiving Food Stamp Program benefits; however, it is likely that many more are eligible.
• Among households with children ages 0-3 years, 51% participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children WIC.
• Among households with school-age children, 62% and 51%, respectively, participate in the federal school lunch and school breakfast programs.

                                              MANY Nationwide Food Pantry CLIENTS ARE IN POOR HEALTH

• 29% of households served by the Nationwide Food Pantries report having at least one household member in poor health.

                            MOST CLIENTS ARE SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICES THEY RECEIVE FROM FOOD PANTRIES

• 92% of adult clients said they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the amount of food they received from their Local FOOD PANTRY provider; 93% were satisfied with the quality of the food they received .
HOW LARGE IS THE Nationwide Food Pantries NATIONAL NETWORK?
• The members of the Nationwide Food Pantries participating in the study include 43,141 agencies, of which 31,111 provided usable responses to the agency survey. Of the responding agencies, 21,834 had at least one food pantry, soup kitchen, or emergency shelter.

• The Nationwide Food Pantry Network includes approximately 29,700 food pantries, 5,600 soup kitchens and 4,100 emergency shelters.

                                            WHAT KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS OPERATE EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS?

• 74% of pantries, 65% of kitchens, and 43% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations.
• At the agency level, 69% of agencies with pantry, kitchen, or shelter and 56% of all agencies including those with other programs are faith-based.
• Private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation make up a large share of other types of agencies.

                                 HAVE AGENCIES BEEN EXPERIENCING CHANGES IN THE NEED FOR THEIR SERVICES?

• 65% of pantries, 61% of kitchens, and 52% of shelters of the Nationwide Food Pantries National Network reported that there had been an increase since 2001 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites.

                                                          WHERE DO THESE AGENCIES OBTAIN THEIR FOOD?

• Food banks are by far the single most important source of food for the agencies, accounting for 74% of the food distributed by pantries, 49% of the food distributed by kitchens, and 42% of the food distributed by shelters.
• Other important sources of food include religious organizations, government, and direct purchases from wholesalers and retailers.
• 69% of pantries, 49% of kitchens, and 46% of shelters receive food from government commodity programs.

                                                                  VOLUNTEERS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

• As many as 90% of pantries, 86% of kitchens, and 71% of shelters in the National Network use volunteers.
• Many programs rely entirely on volunteers; 66% of pantry programs and 40% of kitchens have no paid staff at all.