Hunger Study 2010

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Hunger in America 2010 Local Report Prepared for The Arkansas Foodbank Network

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Author(s)/Creator(s): Mathematica Policy Research Inc.

Publication Date: 2010-02-01

Copyright Info: Copyright 2010 Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest). All rights reserved.

Summary/Abstract:

This report presents information on the clients and agencies served by The Arkansas Foodbank Network. The information is drawn from a national study, Hunger in America 2010, conducted in 2009 for Feeding America (FA) (formerly America's Second Harvest), the nation's largest organization of emergency food providers. The national study is based on completed in- person interviews with more than 62,000 clients served by the FA national network, as well as on completed questionnaires from more than 37,000 FA agencies. The study summarized below focuses on emergency food providers and their clients who are supplied with food by food banks in the FA network.

Key Findings:
  • The FA system served by The Arkansas Foodbank Network provides emergency food for an estimated 166,200 different people annually.
  • 35% of the members of households served by The Arkansas Foodbank Network are children under 18 years old (Table 5.3.2).
  • 27% of households include at least one employed adult (Table 5.7.1).
  • Among households with children, 83% are food insecure and 33% are food insecure with very low food security (Table 6.1.1.1).
  • 52% of clients served by The Arkansas Foodbank Network report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel (Table 6.5.1).
  • 34% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care (Table 6.5.1).
  • 37% of households served by The Arkansas Foodbank Network report having at least one household member in poor health (Table 8.1.1)
  • The Arkansas Foodbank Network included approximately 325 agencies at the administration of this survey, of which 239 have responded to the agency survey. Of the responding agencies, 204 had at least one food pantry, soup kitchen, or shelter.
  • 86% of pantries, 69% of kitchens, and 48% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations (Table 10.6.1).
  • Among programs that existed in 2006, 80% of pantries, 76% of kitchens, and 77% of shelters of The Arkansas Foodbank Network reported that there had been an increase since 2006 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites (Table 10.8.1).
  • Food banks are by far the single most important source of food for agencies with emergency food providers, accounting for 78% of the food distributed by pantries, 45% of the food distributed by kitchens, and 44% of the food distributed by shelters (Table 13.1.1).
  • As many as 97% of pantries, 81% of kitchens, and 64% of shelters in The Arkansas Foodbank Network use volunteers (Table 13.2.1).


Audiences Served: Advocates; General Public; Legislators/Legislative Aids; Policy Professionals; Researchers

Type/Format: Survey; Whitepaper

Language code: English