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Section 11.2.1

11.2.1 - Amount of Food Served on the Day the Program Was Last Open

Agencies were asked how much food their programs distributed when they were last open. Results are presented in Table 11.2.1.

Table 11.2.1
AMOUNT OF FOOD SERVED ON THE DAY THE PROGRAM WAS LAST OPEN
  Pantry Programs(in Bags or Boxes) Kitchen Programs(in Meals) Shelter Programs(in Meals)
Programs that distributed the following number of boxes/bags or meals of food      
1-9 23.9% 4.7% 17.8%
10-29 26.1% 10.8% 20.6%
30-49 13.6% 14.9% 16.8%
50-99 16.8% 27.9% 20.0%
100-149 7.7% 15.6% 7.8%
150-199 3.6% 8.0% 4.0%
200-249 2.0% 5.6% 2.5%
250 or more 6.2% 12.4% 10.4%
Average number of bags or boxes of food distributed among valid responses 1  73 n.a. n.a.
Median number of bags or boxes of food distributed among valid responses 1  29 n.a. n.a.
Average number of meals served among valid responses 1  n.a. 159 180
Median number of meals served among valid responses 1  n.a. 80 42
SAMPLE SIZE (N) 12,468 2,853 2,131

Source 
This table was constructed based on usable responses to Question 6c of the agency survey.
 
Notes 
The percentages presented in this table are based only on usable responses, excluding missing, don't know, and refusal responses. All usable responses were weighted as described in Chapter 3 and in the Technical Appendix volume to represent all emergency food programs of the A2H network. The sample sizes (N) also include missing data.

Missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 34.9% for pantry programs, 36.8% for kitchen programs, and 45.1% for shelter programs.


1. Zeros as responses were not included as valid responses for calculating the average and the median.

n.a. = not applicable.

 
 
Emergency food programs vary greatly in size. Some programs served several people and others several hundred people when they were last open. On average, the pantry programs distributed 73 boxes/bags (median: 29) of food when they were last open. The kitchen programs distributed 159 meals (median: 80) and the shelter programs distributed 180 meals (median: 42). Details follow:

  • 19.6% of pantries distributed 100 or more boxes or bags of food on the day they were last open.
  • 80.4% of pantries distributed less than 100 boxes or bags of food on the day they were last open.
  • 41.7% of kitchens served 100 or more meals on the day they were last open.
  • 58.3% of kitchens served less than 100 meals on the day they were last open.
  • 24.8% of shelters served 100 or more meals on the day they were last open.
  • 75.2% of shelters served less than 100 meals on the day they were last open.