During times of need, many households turn to local, nongovernment
emergency food providers. Yet only limited information about these
organizations has been available to policymakers. A recent ERS-funded
study of emergency food providers estimates that almost 33,000 food
pantries and over 5,000 emergency kitchens operate in the United
States, and they provided an estimated 2.4 billion meals in 2000.
The study is the first to provide a broad, national overview of
these private, nonprofit organizations and their relationship to
Federal food assistance programs.
Food pantries and emergency kitchens (often called soup kitchens)
provide food directly to needy households. Food pantries distribute
bags of food to be prepared and eaten at home. Emergency kitchens
provide prepared meals that are eaten onsite. Food pantries and
emergency kitchens are typically locally based and rely heavily
on volunteers. Almost two-thirds are affiliated with a religious
organization.
About 30 percent of food pantries and 40 percent of emergency kitchens
in the 2000 survey had been in operation for more than 10 years.
But, almost one in five emergency kitchens and one in three food
pantries had been operating for 3 years or less.
Most food pantries and emergency kitchens receive at least some
of their food from food banks, which collect mostly nonperishable
food in bulk from private and government sources. Food pantries
and emergency kitchens may also receive food from food rescue organizations,
which recover perishable food from foodservice operations, food
retailers and wholesalers, and farmers.
Emergency food providers offer a valuable service in many communities,
but the amount of food they distribute is small relative to Federal
food programs. Food pantries and emergency kitchens provided an
estimated 198 million meals per month in 2000. In contrast, the
five largest Federal food assistance programs provided the equivalent
of 1.9 billion meals per month in 2000.
Many emergency food providers receive and distribute USDA commodities
to households, mainly through The Emergency Food Assistance Program
(TEFAP). Roughly 85 percent of food banks receive USDA commodities,
such as fruit, vegetables, meats, and rice, and about half of food
pantries and emergency kitchens report using USDA commodities. Emergency
food providers distributed about 422 million pounds of USDA commodities
in 2000, which accounted for nearly 14 percent of all food distributed
by them.