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Hunger on Long Island
2001 Long Island Cares, Inc. ,
Hunger in
America
HIGHLIGHTS OF FINDINGS
This report presents information on the clients and agencies served by
Long Island Cares, Inc.. The information is drawn from a national study, Hunger
in America 2001, conducted for America’s Second Harvest
(A2H), the nation’s largest organization of emergency food providers. The
national study is based on completed in-person interviews with more than 32,000
clients served by the A2H network, as well as completed questionnaires from
nearly 24,000 A2H agencies. This report is based on surveys of 394 clients and
404 agencies served by Long Island Cares, Inc.
Key findings are summarized below:
HOW MANY CLIENTS RECEIVE FOOD FROM A2H EMERGENCY FOOD
PROVIDERS?
The A2H system
served by Long Island Cares, Inc. provides food for an estimated 174,809
different people annually.
53,046 different
people receive assistance in any given week.
WHO RECEIVES EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE?
A2H agencies served by Long Island Cares, Inc. provide food for a broad
cross-section of households. Key characteristics include:
- 42.9%
of the members of households
served by Long Island Cares, Inc. are children under 18 years old .
-
10.0% of the
members of households served by Long Island Cares, Inc. are children age 0 to
5 years (Table 5.3.2).
-
7.9% are elderly
(Table 5.3.2).
-
Approximately
59.4% of clients are white; 24.3% are African American, and the rest are from
other racial or ethnic groups. 38.7% are Hispanic
-
51.4% of
households include at least one employed adult
-
56.2% have incomes
below the official federal poverty level during the previous month.
- 2.7% are receiving Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families and 4.6% are receiving General Assistance .
- 1.1% are homeless .
MANY A2H CLIENTS ARE FOOD INSECURE OR ARE EXPERIENCING HUNGER
Among all clients
of Long Island Cares, Inc., 74.3% are classified as food insecure, using the
U.S. government’s official food security scale. This includes both clients who
are food insecure without hunger and those classified as food insecure with
hunger
36.5% of all
clients of Long Island Cares, Inc. are classified by the scale as experiencing
hunger
Among households
with children, 78.4% are food insecure and 41.3% are experiencing hunger
MANY CLIENTS REPORT HAVING TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FOOD AND OTHER NECESSITIES
- 33.8% of clients report having
to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel
- 33.5% had to choose between
paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage bill
-
25.4% had to
choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care
DO A2H CLIENTS ALSO RECEIVE FOOD ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNMENT?
25.0% of A2H
client households are receiving Food Stamp Program benefits ; however, it is
likely that many more are eligible
Among A2H
households with pre-school children, 40.8% participate in the Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Among A2H households with
school-age children, 57.7% and 45.0%, respectively, participate in the federal
school lunch and school breakfast programs
MANY A2H CLIENTS ARE IN POOR HEALTH
- 34.9% of A2H households report
having at least one household member in poor health
MOST A2H CLIENTS ARE SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICES THEY RECEIVE FROM THE A2H
PROVIDER AGENCIES
83.8% of adult
clients said they were either "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with
the amount of food they received from their A2H provider; 97.3% were satisfied
with the quality of the food they received
HOW LARGE IS THE A2H PROVIDER NETWORK?
Long Island Cares,
Inc. includes approximately 459 agencies.
WHAT KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS OPERATE A2H EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS?
- 68.0% of pantries, 62.6% of
kitchens, and 15.2% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated
with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations
- Most of the other agencies are
private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation
HAVE AGENCIES BEEN EXPERIENCING CHANGES IN THE NEED FOR THEIR SERVICES?
- 60.4% pantries, 52.6% kitchens,
and 65.6% shelters reported that there had been an increase since 1998 in the
number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites
WHERE DO A2H AGENCIES OBTAIN THEIR FOOD?
Food banks are by
far the single most important source of food for most A2H agencies, accounting
for 43.7% of the food used by pantries, 30.9% of kitchens’ food, and 8.3% of
shelters’ food
Other important
sources of food include religious organizations and direct purchases from
wholesalers and retailers
Government commodity programs
account for about 17.7% of food for pantries, 13.1% for kitchens, and 4.8% for
shelters
VOLUNTEERS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN THE A2H NETWORK
- 89.8% of pantries, 97.7% of
kitchens, and 53.5% of shelters use volunteers .
- Many programs rely
entirely
on volunteers; 46.7% of pantry
programs and 62.8% of kitchens have no paid staff at all.
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