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The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Client Survey: Executive Summary

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By Ronette Briefel, Jonathan Jacobson, Nancy Clusen, Teresa Zavitsky, Miki Satake, Brittany Dawson, and Rhoda Cohen. ERS project representative: Laura Tiehen

Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report No. (FANRR32) 21 pp, August 2003

During a typical month in 2001, food pantries served about 12.5 million people, and emergency kitchens served about 1.1 million people. Food pantries and emergency kitchens play an important role in feeding America's low-income and needy populations. These organizations are part of the Emergency Food Assistance System (EFAS), a network run largely by private organizations with some Federal support. This report presents findings from a national study of EFAS clients, which surveyed clients who received emergency food assistance from selected food pantries and emergency kitchens. The study finds that food pantries and emergency kitchens serve a diverse clientele, but that almost three-fourths of those served are food insecure. The majority of EFAS households receive Federal food assistance, including two-thirds of food pantry clients and 45 percent of emergency kitchen clients. However, a substantial number of EFAS households do not receive food stamps, though they appear to be eligible for them.

Keywords: emergency food, food pantry, soup kitchen, community kitchen, emergency kitchen, food bank, emergency food organization, hunger, food insecurity, food security, food assistance, faith-based organization, ERS, USDA

In this report ...

Chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.


For more information on the EFAS provider and client surveys, see the following reports:
  1. The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume I: Executive Summary, FANRR-16-1

  2. The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume II: Final Report, FANRR-16-2

  3. The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume III: Survey Methodology, E-FAN-01-008

  4. The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Client Survey: Final Report, E-FAN-03-007


Order this report (stock #FANRR32)

Updated date: August 11, 2003

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