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Key Findings

This report presents the results of a study conducted in 2001 for America's Second Harvest (A2H), the nation's largest organization of emergency food providers. The study is based on completed in-person interviews with more than 32,000 clients served by the A2H network, as well as completed questionnaires from nearly 24,000 A2H agencies.


Key findings are summarized below:

How Many Clients Receive Food From A2H Emergency Food Providers?

  • The A2H system serves an estimated 23.3 million different people annually. This includes 21.3 million pantry users, 1.3 million kitchen users, and 0.7 million shelter users (Table 4.3.1).
  • Approximately 7.0 million different people receive assistance in any given week (Table 4.3.1).

Who Receives Emergency Food Assistance?

A2H agencies serve a broad cross-section of households in America. Key characteristics include:

  • 39% of the members of households served by A2H are children under 18 years old (Table 5.3.2).
  • 9% of the members of households served by A2H are children age 0 to 5 years (Table 5.3.2).
  • 11% are elderly (Table 5.3.2).
  • Approximately 45% of clients are white; 35% are African American, and the rest are from other racial or ethnic groups. 17% are Hispanic (Table 5.6.1).
  • 39% of households include at least one employed adult (Table 5.7.1).
  • 64% have incomes at or below the official federal poverty level (Table 5.8.2.1).
  • 6% are receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and 8% are receiving General Assistance (Table 5.8.4.1).
  • 10% are homeless (Table 5.9.1).

Many A2H Clients Are Food Insecure or Are Experiencing Hunger

  • Among all A2H clients, 71% are classified as food insecure, using the U.S. government's official food security scale. This includes both clients who are food insecure without hunger and those classified as food insecure with hunger (Table 6.1.1).
  • 37% of all A2H clients are classified by the scale as experiencing hunger (Table 6.1.1).
  • Among households with children, 76% are food insecure and 37% are experiencing hunger (Table 6.1.1).

Many Clients Report Having to Choose Between Food and Other Necessities

  • 45% of clients report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel (Table 6.5.1).
  • 36% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage bill (Table 6.5.1).
  • 30% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care (Table 6.5.1).

Do A2H Clients Also Receive Food Assistance Help From Government?

  • 30% of A2H clients are receiving Food Stamp Program benefits (Table 7.1.1 ); however, it is likely that many more are eligible (Table 7.2.1).
  • Among A2H households with pre-school children, 52% participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (Table 7.4.1).
  • Among A2H households with school-age children, 63% and 50%, respectively, participate in the federal school lunch and school breakfast programs (Table 7.4.1).

Many A2H Clients Are in Poor Health

  • 29% of A2H households report having at least one household member in poor health (Table 8.1.1)

Most A2H Clients Are Satisfied With the Services They Receive From A2H Provider Agencies

  • 93% of adult clients said they were either "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with the amount of food they received from their A2H provider; 95% were satisfied with the quality of the food they received (Table 9.2.1).

How Large is the A2H Provider network?

  • The A2H provider network includes approximately 26,300 pantries, 5,700 kitchens, and 4,100 shelters.

What Kinds of Organizations Operate A2H Emergency Food Programs?

  • 76% of pantries, 71% of kitchens, and 43% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations (Table 10.6.1).
  • Most of the other agencies are private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation (Table 10.6.1).

Have Agencies Been Experiencing Changes in the Need for Their Services?

  • Between 56% and 60% of the agencies surveyed reported that there had been an increase since 1998 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites (Table 10.8.1).

Where do A2H Agencies Obtain Their Food?

  • Food banks are by far the single most important source of food for most A2H agencies, accounting for 59% of the food used by pantries, 43% of kitchens' food, and 36% of shelters' food (Table 13.1.1).
  • Other important sources of food include religious organizations and direct purchases from wholesalers and retailers (Table 13.1.1).
  • Federal government commodity programs account for about 6% of food for pantries, 5% for kitchens, and 1% for shelters (Table 13.1.1).

Volunteers Are Extremely Important in the A2H network

  • More than 90% of both pantries and kitchens use volunteer staff; the number for shelters is 76% (Table 13.2.1).
  • Many programs rely entirely on volunteers; only 33% of pantry programs and 55% of kitchens have any paid staff at all (Table 13.2.1).