Section 9.3.1

America's Second Harvest became Feeding America in 2008. This study was published prior to that name change in 2001.

9.3.1 - What Clients Would Do Without Food Assistance From the Agency

Clients were asked what they would do without the agency helping them. Results are shown in Table 9.3.1.

Table 9.3.1
WHAT CLIENTS WOULD DO WITHOUT FOOD ASSISTANCE FROM THE AGENCY
If this agency weren't here to help you or your household with food, what would you do? Pantry Client Households Kitchen Client Households Shelter Client Households All Client Households
Go to another agency 44.8% 44.4% 35.9% 44.3%
Get help from relatives, friends 13.4% 10.7% 13.5% 13.1%
Get help from the government 4.0% 3.5% 3.7% 4.0%
Get a job, more hours, an additional job 6.0% 5.5% 12.6% 6.3%
Sell some personal property 1.6% 1.6% 0.3% 1.5%
Lower expenses 2.9% 2.7% 0.7% 2.8%
Eat less, skip meals, reduce size of meals 8.6% 10.2% 3.4% 8.5%
Would get by somehow 20.4% 18.2% 11.0% 19.6%
I have no other place to get help 4.5% 4.3% 5.7% 4.6%
Do something illegal 0.8% 2.0% 1.3% 1.0%
Other 6.0% 11.3% 13.9% 7.1%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) 24,436 5,441 2,882 32,759

Source
This table was constructed based on usable responses to Question 55 of the client survey.

Notes
All usable responses were weighted as described in Chapter 3 and in the Technical Appendix volume to represent all emergency food clients of the A2H network. The sample sizes (N) also include missing data.

Missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 17.8% for pantry clients, 12.3% for kitchen clients, 17.6% for shelter clients, and 17.1% for all clients.


In the absence of the agency helping the clients, 44.3% of them said that they would go to another agency. Other responses include:

  • 19.6% of the clients said that they would get by somehow.
  • 13.1% of the clients said that they would get help from relatives or friends.
  • 8.5% of the clients said that they would eat less, skip meals, or reduce the size of meals.