Section 12.4.1

12.4.1 - Additional Food Resources Needed Per Week

Agencies were asked how much additional food is needed during a typical week to adequately meet the demand for food. Results are summarized in Table 12.4.1.

Table 12.4.1

ADDITIONAL FOOD RESOURCES NEEDED PER WEEK

	Pantry Programs	Kitchen Programs	Shelter Programs
No additional meals or meal equivalents needed¹	61.6%	75.4%	86.1%
1 to 10 additional meals or meal equivalents needed	1.4%	3.8%	2.4%
11 to 49 additional meals or meal equivalents needed	6.9%	5.7%	4.3%
50 to 149 additional meals or meal equivalents needed	9.0%	9.0%	4.2%
150 or more additional meals or meal equivalents needed	21.0%	6.1%	3.0%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N)	12,468	2,853	2,131
Average number of additional meal equivalents needed among valid answers²	457	144	137
Median number of additional meal equivalents needed among valid answers²	154	50	50
Average amount of additional food needed (pounds)	594	187	179
Median amount of additional food needed (pounds)	200	65	65
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - Programs that need more food resources	3,410	400	171

Source
This table was constructed based on usable responses to Question 14 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 29.2% for pantry programs, 42.8% for kitchen programs, and 44.2% for shelter programs.

1. This variable was constructed from two variables, one asking food poundage and the other number of meals. Poundage was converted to meals by dividing the poundage by 1.3. Then, the resulting number of meals and the other variable of actual number of meals were summed to produce the number of meals reported here. The 1.3 pounds per meal factor is based on tabulations from U.S. Department of Agriculture: "Food Consumption and Dietary Levels of Households in the United States, 1987-88." Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994.

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

A majority of programs, 61.6% of the pantries, 75.4% of the kitchens, and 86.1% of the shelters answered that they did not need additional food for distribution. Results among the programs in need of additional food follow:

The median pantry needed more than 200 additional pounds of food per week.
The median kitchen needed more than 50 additional meal equivalents per week.
The median shelters needed more than 50 additional meal equivalents per week.