DISCLAIMER: The blog below is a work product produced by the result of independent student research efforts and discussion among FIT Research Club members. Any information included does not, and is not intended to, constitute expert advice. The opinions expressed within the content below are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Houston, the University of Houston Honors College, or UH Bonner Leaders.
Introduction
This blog discusses results from an influential article in the Journal of Nutrition Education that discusses food pantry use among impoverished citizens of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. We discuss the reasons people choose to visit or not to visit food pantries available to them. We consider transportation issues, addressable obstacles, and pantry use over time. There are some interesting takeaways from this research that we can apply to our FIT service at food pantries such as Riverside Methodist church.
Written By: Kaylie O'Connell
Food pantries and other food-assistance programs serve 46 million people every year in the United States. An analysis of food pantry use in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where surveys were conducted with 400 households with an income below 185% of the poverty level, uncovers reasons why people in poverty do or do not use food pantries available to them. This information is useful to FIT as we expand our project and find ways to more effectively fight hunger in our community.
One of the most revealing findings from this study was that when variables for income and assets are accounted for, “the only variable significantly related to the probability of using a pantry is whether or not the household owns a car.” This means that households who don’t have access to a car are severely underserved by food pantries. In this particular study, only 26% of households drove to the food pantry in their own car; most clients either walked, used public transportation, or carpooled with a friend or relative. This is a particularly interesting result to FIT, given that our most frequent and regular service is with Riverside church, which offers exclusively drive-through service (although occasionally a client has arrived at the food pantry on foot.) This points out the problem of discrimination even within the efforts to aid those fighting food insecurity and poverty, since nearly all of our clients have access to a car. There is probably no direct action that FIT can take to address the transportation problem at this moment, but it will be useful to keep this in mind as we continue our service.
However, other interesting reasons people choose not to visit food pantries include: don’t need food (21%), ineligible (16%), not worth the trouble (9%), others need the food more (9%), lack of information (9%), don’t know a location (8%). This means that 17-26% of people who choose not to use food pantries can be reached out to and possibly persuaded to utilize food pantry resources if given accessible information and a convenient way to go to a food pantry. This is a non-negligible amount of people that we could potentially serve in FIT if we were to reach out to these populations. At many of our events, especially one-time or sporadically scheduled events Backpack Buddies, there has been significantly more supply than people who have come to pick up food and supplies. If the problem of supply vs. demand is not adequately addressed, we will have either a large amount of food going to waste (since the food bank does not accept returned food once it has delivered it,) or people being turned away at the food pantry.
Another interesting finding from this study was that in this survey, most pantry users (63%) only visited the food pantry once a month, and 20% of users visited the pantry less than once a month. The average length of usage of a food pantry is two years, and the majority of food pantries serve “chronic food-insecurity” as opposed to emergency cases. Another interesting result is that while the study surveyed current users of a food pantry (current being defined as having visited the food pantry within the last three months), the study also revealed that the demographic of those who had visited a food pantry ever was correlated with race and with while the only statistically significant indicator of those eligible who used the food pantry vs. those who did not at a current time was whether the client owned a car. This is further evidence of the correlation between race and poverty in the US, and is something we should keep in mind as we continue our service.
Work Cited
Daponte, Beth & Lewis, Gordon & Sanders, Seth & Taylor, Lowell. (1998). Food Pantry Use among Low-Income Households in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Journal of Nutrition Education. 30. 50-57. 10.1016/S0022-3182(98)70275-4.