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FORT WAYNE — The Community Harvest Food Bank is supporting almost twice as many hungry people today than it did in 2006.
A study released Tuesday shows more than 90,000 people received emergency food each year from Community Harvest Food Bank. That number is up 41, 400 from a 2006 study.
The landmark study released today by Community Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Indiana, Inc. and Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, is the first research study to capture the significant connection between the recent economic downturn and an increased need for emergency food assistance. The number of children and adults in need of food as a result of experiencing food insecurity has significantly increased, according to a news release from Community Harvest Food Bank.
Nationally, more than one in three client households are experiencing very low food security — or hunger — a 54 percent increase in the number of households compared to four years ago.
An estimated 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen, or other agency served by one of Feeding America’s more than 200 food banks, including Community Harvest Food Bank. This is a 27 percent increase over numbers reported in Hunger in America 2006, which reported that 4.5 million people were served each week.
"It just breaks my heart to see these numbers. We knew we were busy, we just didn’t know how busy we were," said Jane Avery, executive director of Community Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Indiana. "I’m so proud to say Community Harvest is able to help these folks every single day thanks to our generous donors, our volunteer corps, not to mention our dedicated staff and board of directors. That said there is so much more that needs to be done.”
Among the key findings in the Community Harvest Food Bank report:
- CHFB provides food to 90,000 different people annually
- 21,100 different people receive assistance from CHFB every week
- 45 percent of households served by CHFB are children under 18 years of age
- 5 percent of the members of households served by CHFB are elderly
- 62 percent of clients are non-Hispanic white, 23 percent are non-Hispanic black, 11 percent are Hispanic, and the rest are from other racial groups
- 39 percent of households include at least one employed adult
- 71 percent have incomes below the federal poverty level during the previous month
- 44 percent of clients served by CHFB report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel
- 40 percent had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage
- 35 percent had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care
- 39 percent had to choose between paying for food and paying for transportation
- 28 percent of client households are receiving SNAP (food stamps) benefits
- 64 percent of households with children ages 0-3 participate in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program
- Among households with school-age children, 74 percent participate in the federal school lunch program
- 30 percent of households report having at least one household member in poor health
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