An independent national survey of emergency feeding programs commisioned by Second Harvest, the National Food Bank Network, found that the food bank network of emergency food providers serves more than 25.7 million people in a year, including more than 21 million at emergency sites, such as food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters 3 .
Children make up a significant portion of emergency food clients.
The Second Harvest findings are in line with other national surveys showing high levels of need at food pantries and soup kitchens. Catholic Charities USA documented more than 5.6 million persons receiving emergency food services from Catholic Charities agencies in 1996. Of these, more than one million were children. With widespread reports of increased demand at emergency feeding outlets throughout the country, some states have approved additional state funding to assist food banks and emergency food providers with commodities and other assistance. In the absence of full federal restorations of nutrition program assistance, the states will continue to face stiff challenges in filling the food gap for many needy people.