Feeding America Agencies and Food Programs: Sources of Food Distributed by Programs

Feb 01, 2010

Chapter 13.1 describes how much of the food distributed through emergency food programs comes from food banks versus other sources. Key Findings:

Food banks are a major source of food, providing 75.5% of the food the pantries distribute, 49.6% of the food the kitchens serve, and 41.1% of the food the shelters serve.
80.6% of pantries, 64.4% of kitchens, and 58.1% of shelters receive food from churches or religious congregations.
46.3% of pantries, 48.2% of kitchens, and 49.0% of shelters receive food from local merchants or donations by farmer.
54.4% of pantries, 33.5% of kitchens, and 31.4% of shelters receive food from TEFAP.
Pantry programs operated by government agencies receive 81.6% of their food from the program's food bank, compared with 71.7% for those operated by community action program agencies.
Kitchen programs operated by faith-based or religion-affiliated nonprofit agencies receive 53.1% of their food from the program's food bank, compared with 42.1% for those operated by private nonprofit agencies that are neither faith-based nor religion-affiliated.

(Excerpted from Hunger in America 2010.)