Issue: Food pantries and emergency kitchens play an

important role in the nutrition safety net for America’s

low-income and needy populations. These organizations

are part of the Emergency Food Assistance System

(EFAS), a network run largely by private organizations

with some Federal Government support. To better understand the EFAS and its interactions with Federal food

assistance programs, the Economic Research Service

(ERS) contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

(MPR) to conduct a national study of food pantries and

emergency kitchens.

One of the study’s reports and a companion executive

summary present findings from the 2001 EFAS Client

Survey. The survey sampled clients who received emergency food assistance from selected food pantries and emergency kitchens that participated in the 2000 EFAS Provider

Survey (Briefel et al., 2003a; Briefel et al., 2003b). 

Background: Food pantries and emergency kitchens

offer community-based food assistance to needy, lowincome households and individuals. Food pantries are distribution centers that provide groceries and other basic

necessities that clients use in their homes or at locations

away from distribution sites. Emergency kitchens supply

meals for onsite consumption. Food pantries and emergency kitchens often receive food from food banks or food

rescue organizations, which function as wholesalers in the

EFAS. Food banks typically collect and distribute nonperishable food from regional and national sources, while

food rescue organizations collect and distribute perishable

food from restaurants, caterers, and other foodservice

providers.

The EFAS interacts closely with USDA food assistance

programs. Food pantries and emergency kitchens provide

food assistance to many of the same populations targeted

by Federal food assistance programs, and also serve as

distribution outlets for USDA commodities. Through the

Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), emergency food providers receive USDA commodities that

they distribute to low-income households or use to provide

meals for needy people. Most TEFAP food is distributed

through the EFAS, and TEFAP commodities account for

about 14 percent of all EFAS food (Ohls et al., 2002).

Findings: The EFAS Client Survey provides information

on the demographic characteristics of food pantry and

emergency kitchen users, their experiences with the use of

private food assistance, and their participation in Federal

food assistance programs. The study finds that, while

emergency food providers serve a diverse clientele, the

majority of their clients live in food-insecure households,

as described below:2

 About 4.3 million different households, including 8.0

million adults and 4.5 million children, received food

from pantries during a typical month in 2001. About 1.1

million people (856,000 adults and 275,000 children)

received meals from emergency kitchens during the

same timeframe.

 Among pantry-client households, 45 percent include 

children under 18, 30 percent include one or more

adults (but no seniors or children), and 25 percent

include seniors and no children; 8 percent are homeless.

Among kitchen-client households, 20 percent include

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Economic 

Research

Service

The Emergency Food Assistance

System—Findings From the Client Survey

Ronette Briefel, Jonathan Jacobson, and Laura Tiehen1

Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report Number 26-10 September 2003

IN FOOD ASSISTANCE

1Briefel and Jacobson are with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.; Tiehen is

with the Food and Rural Economics Division, Economic Research Service,

USDA. Contact: ltiehen@ers.usda.gov or (202) 694-5417.

2Food insecurity refers to a limited or uncertain availability or ability to acquire

nutritionally adequate and safe foods because of financial constraints. Food

pantry and emergency kitchen users reported on a number of experiences that

indicated that their household is having difficulty meeting its food needs. This

information is used to categorize households as food secure, food insecure, or

food insecure with hunger.
children, 63 percent include adults and no children,

mostly men (but no seniors), and 17 percent include

seniors and no children; 36 percent are homeless.

 About three-fourths of EFAS households are food

insecure; almost half are food insecure with hunger.

Two in five kitchen-client households and one in four

pantry households said an adult in the household did

not eat for an entire day at some time in the last year

because they did not have enough money to buy food.

The clients of emergency food providers generally

expressed satisfaction with their experiences at emergency

food providers. For example,

 About 9 out of 10 EFAS clients are satisfied with the

amount and variety of food they receive from EFAS

providers. About 2 out of 10 pantry clients and 3 out of

10 kitchen clients said they sometimes were unable to

receive food when they needed it; transportation problems are the most common contributing factor.

 One in three kitchen clients and one in seven pantry

clients are sometimes asked to participate in prayers or

other religious activities.3 About 9 out of 10 said they

are comfortable being asked to participate in these

faith-based activities. 

The survey collected extensive information about respondents’ eligibility for and use of Federal food assistance programs. The key findings related to program participation are:

 Two-thirds of pantry-client households (69 percent)

and nearly half of kitchen-client households (45 percent) combine private food assistance with use of public

food assistance programs.

 Almost 90 percent of client households were calculated to be eligible to participate in the Food Stamp

Program, the largest USDA food assistance program.

About half of eligible client households received food

stamps in the year prior to the interview.

 Three-fifths of eligible pantry clients and half of eligible kitchen clients receive WIC. The rate of participation

among eligible households is highest in the National

School Lunch Program. Over 80 percent of eligible

client households contain a child who receives free or

reduced-price lunch.

 About 43 percent of pantry-client households and 52

percent of kitchen-client households that combine private

and public food assistance programs are food insecure

with hunger. Food insecurity with hunger is higher

among client households that either participate in the

Food Stamp Program or are eligible to participate (44

percent of pantry- and about 50 percent of kitchenclient households) compared with client households

ineligible to receive food stamps (26 percent of pantryand 32 percent of kitchen-client households, respectively).

Conclusions: The EFAS serves the needs of large numbers of diverse groups in the U.S. low-income population—single-parent families, families with children, the

homeless, the unemployed, the working poor, and seniors.

EFAS clients experience more severe hardships in comparison with the general low-income population in the United

2 Economic Research Service / USDA

The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Client Survey/ FANRR-26-10

3The survey question does not ask whether receipt of food assistance is conditional on participation in prayers or religious activities.

EFAS clients’ food security status 

Pantry-client households Kitchen-client households

Food

secure

25%

Food insecure

without hunger

27%

Food insecure

with hunger

48%

Note: Categories do not add to 100 due to rounding.

Food

secure

21%

Food insecure

without hunger

38%

Food insecure

with hunger

42%
States—they report more health problems and material

hardships and experience higher rates of homelessness and

food insecurity with hunger. The study finds that many

pantry and kitchen clients participate in Federal food

assistance programs. However, almost half of pantry and

kitchen clients eligible to receive food stamps do not

receive them, which suggests that further attention to the

factors that influence their use of Federal food assistance

programs is warranted. The EFAS plays an important role

in providing food assistance, and more attention to the use

of Federal food assistance among this population can help

to ensure that the EFAS and Federal food assistance programs can work together to most effectively reach those in

need of food assistance.

Information Sources:

Briefel, Ronette, Jonathan Jacobson, Nancy Clusen, Teresa

Zavitsky, Miki Satake, Brittany Dawson, and Rhoda

Cohen. 2003a. The Emergency Food Assistance System—

Findings from the Client Survey: Executive Summary.

FANRR-32, USDA, Economic Research Service.

Available: www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr32

Briefel, Ronette, Jonathan Jacobson, Nancy Clusen, Teresa

Zavitsky, Miki Satake, Brittany Dawson, and Rhoda

Cohen. 2003b. The Emergency Food Assistance System—

Findings from the Client Survey: Final Report. E-FAN-03-

007, USDA, Economic Research Service. Available:

www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan03007

Ohls, James C., and Fazana Saleem-Ismail. Emergency

Food Assistance System—Findings from the Provider

Survey, Volume I: Executive Summary. 2002. FANRR-16-

1, USDA, Economic Research Service. Available:

www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr16-1

The Emergency Food Assistance System—Findings From the Client Survey / FANRR-26-10

Economic Research Service / USDA 3

Participation in public food assistance programs (among eligible households)

1

Program not available in all areas.

Percent of client households

Food Stamp Program

WIC

Meals in childcare 

programs or Head Start1

School Breakfast 

Program1

National School 

Lunch Program

Summer Food

Service Program1

Senior meals programs1

Pantry-client households Kitchen-client households

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

14

25

21

31

84

80

73

71

19

19

61

53

55

44