HUNGER IN AMERICA 2006 REPORT

NEW STUDY:  158,000 TARRANT AREA RESIDENTS SOUGHT PRIVATELY-SPONSORED FOOD ASSISTANCE IN 2005

HIGHLIGHTS OF FINDINGS FOR TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK

TAFB News

NEWS RELEASE

New Hunger Study

158,000 TARRANT AREA RESIDENTS SOUGHT

PRIVATELY-SPONSORED FOOD ASSISTANCE IN 2005

Comprehensive study of private, nonprofit Emergency Food Distribution

reports on domestic hunger nationwide and

in local 13-county area served by Tarrant Area Food Bank

     [Fort Worth—February 23, 2006]— ONE IN 14 Tarrant area residents—including more than 55,000 children and 11,000 seniors— received emergency food assistance during 2005 through Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB), according to a report released today by America's Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network.

     The figures for Tarrant Area Food Bank and its 13-county network of emergency food providers are part of the national study, Hunger in America 2006. This study reports that 25 million Americans sought emergency food assistance last year from America’s Second Harvest member food banks like TAFB and their networks of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.

     Based on 52,000 face-to-face interviews of people seeking emergency food assistance and more than 30,000 surveys of agency staff, Hunger in America is the largest, most comprehensive study ever conducted on domestic hunger. The study was commissioned by the America's Second Harvest Network and sponsored by Altria.

    In the greater Tarrant area, about 81 percent of the clients seeking emergency food assistance from the 290 agencies Tarrant Area Food Bank

(TAFB) serves are living below the federal poverty line. Among the families served by the TAFB network in Tarrant and 12 surrounding counties, nearly 36 percent have at least one adult who is working. This percentage corresponds to the national figure of 40 percent.

    “Millions of Americans rely every month on the agencies we serve. Millions of others are living less than one paycheck away from hunger,” said Robert Forney, President and CEO of America 's Second Harvest. “When people hit sudden hard times including illness, loss of a job, or disruption in health insurance, they are forced to turn for help to the America 's Second Harvest Network of members such as Tarrant Area Food Bank.”

     Many of the clients who participated in face-to-face interviews for Hunger in America 2006 reported having to make choices between food and everyday necessities . LOCALLY, ONE-HALF of the households served reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel; 41 percent had to choose between paying for food and their rent or mortgage; 46 percent reported having to choose between paying for food and medical bills.

     Hunger with the need for emergency food assistance does not discriminate. Of the people served by Tarrant Area Food Bank, 47 percent are Caucasian, 26 percent are non-Hispanic African-American, 24 percent are Hispanic/Latino and the rest are from other racial or ethnic groups.

     Volunteers and faith-based organizations are the lifeline of the greater Tarrant County area’s and America ’s emergency food distribution system. Nationwide, more than 65 percent of food pantries and 40 percent of soup kitchens rely entirely on volunteers and have no paid staff.

     Among Tarrant Area Food Bank’s network, more than 56 percent of food pantries and 7 percent of soup kitchens are completely run by volunteers. Some 79 percent of TAFB pantries, 59 percent of soup kitchens and 54 percent of emergency shelters are run by faith-based agencies.

    “In addition to those volunteers running pantries, kitchens and shelter, more than 2,000 volunteers directly support Tarrant Area Food Bank each year. They are critical to the work we do, and ultimately to improving the lives of the area residents we serve,” said Bo Soderbergh, TAFB executive director.

    “With the cost of energy and health care increasing with no relief in sight,” Soderbergh continued, “if we are to ensure that no child, elderly retiree or low-wage worker goes hungry, it will fall on each of us to support local safety nets like Tarrant Area Food Bank and national networks like America's Second Harvest."

    Tarrant Area Food Bank is by far the single most important source of food for its partner agencies, accounting for 76 percent of the food distributed by food pantries, 61 percent of the food used by kitchens and 43 percent of the food used by shelters. Among the clients served by these agencies, 94 percent of adult clients said they were satisfied with the amount of food they received and 93 percent were satisfied with the quality of the food.

        In the past year, Tarrant Area Food Bank distributed 15 million pounds of food to 290 local charitable agencies that included not only food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters but also senior centers, low-income day care centers, Kids Cafes, after-school programs, children’s homes, residential treatment centers and disaster relief agencies. This network of emergency food providers served by TAFB operates in the counties of Tarrant, Cooke, Denton, Wise, Parker, Johnson, Hood, Somervell, Palo Pinto, Erath, Bosque, Hamilton and Hill. A large majority of the agencies serve Tarrant County .

HIGHLIGHTS OF FINDINGS

For the purposes of the HUNGER IN AMERICA 2006 study, EMERGENCY FOOD PROVIDERS ARE DEFINED TO INCLUDE food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters serving short-term residents. It should be recognized that many other types of provider organizations served by Tarrant Area Food Bank are, for the most part, NOT described in this study. THE PROVIDERS WHO ARE NOT COVERED IN THIS STUDY INCLUDE such services as congregate meals for seniors, day care facilities and after-school programs.

HOW MANY CLIENTS RECEIVE EMERGENCY FOOD FROM THE TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK?

• The network of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters served by Tarrant Area Food Bank provides food for an estimated 157,900 different people annually.

WHO RECEIVES EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE from PANTRIES, SOUP KITCHENS AND SHELTERS?

•  35% of the members of households served by the Tarrant Area Food B ank network of pantries, soup kitchens and shelters are children under 18 years old. 

•  12% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years.

•  7% of the members of households that visit pantries, soup kitchens or shelters are elderly. This percentage does not take into account the hundreds of seniors who eat meals at senior centers served by Tarrant Area Food Bank.

•  About 47% of clients are non-Hispanic white, 26% are non-Hispanic black, 24% are Hispanic, and the rest are from other racial or ethnic groups.

•  36% of households visiting pantries, kitchens or shelters include at least one employed adult.

•  81% have incomes below the official federal poverty level during the previous month.

•  The median household income among all clients during the previous month was $650 (one-half of incomes were less than $650 and half were more than that).

•  14% are homeless.

MANY TAFB CLIENTS ARE FOOD INSECURE OR

ARE EXPERIENCING HUNGER

FOOD INSECURITY is the USDA's measure of lack of access at all times in a socially acceptable way (e.g., without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing or other coping strategies), to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members; or limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.

•  Among client households served by emergency food programs (pantries, kitchens, shelters) of Tarrant Area Food Bank, 75% are food insecure, according to the U.S. government’s official food security scale. This includes client households who are food insecure without hunger and those who are food insecure with hunger.

•  38% of the clients are experiencing hunger.

•  Among households with children, 80% are food insecure and 31% are experiencing hunger.

MANY CLIENTS REPORT HAVING TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FOOD AND OTHER NECESSITIES

•  50% of clients served by the Tarrant Area Food Bank report having to choose

  between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.

•  41% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage.

•  46% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.

DO TAFB CLIENTS ALSO RECEIVE FOOD ASSISTANCE FROM THE

GOVERNMENT?

•  35% of client households served by the Tarrant Area Food Bank are receiving Food Stamp Program benefits; however, it is likely that many more are eligible.

•  Among households with preschool children, 65% participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

•  Among households with school-age children, 64% and 58%, respectively participate in the federal school lunch and school breakfast program.

MANY TAFB CLIENTS ARE IN POOR HEALTH

•  33% of households served by the Tarrant Area Food Bank report having at leastone household member in poor health.

MOST CLIENTS ARE SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICES THEY RECEIVE FROM THE AGENCIES OF TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK

•  94% of adult clients said they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the amount of food they received from their A2H provider; 93% were satisfied with the quality of the food they received.

WHAT KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS OPERATE EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS IN THE TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK NETWORK?

•  79% of pantries, 59% of kitchens, and 54% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations.

•  At the agency level, 76% of agencies with at least one pantry, kitchen, or shelter and 69% of all agencies including those only with other types of programsare faith-based.

•  Private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation make up a large shareof other types of agencies.

WHERE DO THESE AGENCIES OBTAIN THEIR FOOD?

• Tarrant Area Food Bank is by far the single most important source of food for the agencies, accounting for 76% of the food used by pantries, 61% of kitchens’ food, and 43% of shelters’ food.

• Other important sources of food include religious organizations, government, and direct purchases from wholesalers and retailers.

• 88% of pantries, 61% of kitchens, and 40% of shelters of Tarrant Area Food

Bank receive food from government commodity programs.  

VOLUNTEERS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in the Tarrant Area Food Bank and America's Second Harvest Network

• For Tarrant Area Food Bank, 93% of pantries, 78% of kitchens, and 87% of

shelters use volunteers.

• Many programs rely entirely on volunteers; 56% of pantry programs and 7% of kitchens have no paid staff at all.

##

For more information on LOCAL findings in Hunger in America 2006, please call Tarrant Area Food Bank at 817-332-9177.

For more NATIONAL information from www.hungerinamerica .org .

Back to Top