Food Banking in the Deep South: Profiles of Clients and Directors

1
Food Banking in the Deep South Profiles of
Clients and Directors

• Patricia A. Duffy
• Marina Irimia-Vladu
• Joseph J. Molnar
• Auburn UniversitySuzie Cashwell, Western
  Kentucky UniversityJohn Bartkowski, Mississippi
  State University

2
Source St. Cecelia Catholic Church, Iselin, New
Jersey
3
Source New Path Outreach, Tipp City, OH
4
Study Objectives

• Profile of Food Pantry Directors, Alabama and
  Mississippi
• Profile of Food Pantry Clients, East Alabama area

5
Some Questions of Interest

• Do food pantry clients feel stigmatized by use of
  food pantry?
• Why are people using food pantries?
• Are food pantries a short-term or a long-term
  form of aid?
• Are directors sympathetic or judgmental?
• Are food pantries preferred to food stamps by the
  people who use them?

6
Data Sources

• 2002 mail survey sent to 500 food pantry
  directors in Alabama and Mississippi. From each
  state 250 food pantries were randomly selected.
  235 usable surveys returned, 50 undeliverable.
• 1999 face to face interviews with food pantry
  clients in East Alabama. 10 clients from each of
  6 metro-area and 6 non-metro area pantries
  selected. 96 completed surveys.

7
Director Profile Questions

• Are they secular or religious in nature?
• What types of local community agencies are
  affiliated with food banks in the
  Alabama-Mississippi area?
• What are their organizational characteristics and
  what populations do they serve?

8
Director Profile Questions

• What types of people lead such agencies?
• Are food agency directors predominantly white or
  African American, male or female?
• How educated are they?
• What is their household income?

9
Director Profile Questions

• What social welfare attitudes are manifested by
  food agency directors?
• What do pantry directors think about their
  clients?

10
Pantry Profiles

• 75 church sponsored or
• religious-linked organizations

11
Service Area
12
Director Profiles

• 64 female
• 36 male

13
Director Profiles

• 63 Caucasian
• 37 African American

14
Director Profiles
EDUCATION
15
Director Profiles
CHURCH ATTENDANCE
16
Director Profiles
Household Income
17
Photo Source Montgomery Area Food Bank
18
Director ProfilesAttitudes

• Directors were asked a series of questions
  dealing with their attitudes about poverty in
  general and food pantry clients in particular.

19
Directors Attitudes about Poverty.
20
Directors Attitudes About Food Pantry Use
21
Overview
The typical food pantry director is a
well-educated white woman with a medium household
income. She does not have strong opinions
about the causes of poverty, does not think we
spend too little on welfare, and may harbor some
suspicions about the honesty of some clients.
22
Food Pantry Clients

• Who are they?
• Why do they use a pantry?
• Are they satisfied with pantry services?
• What government programs do they use?
• What hardships do they face?
• Are rural and metro-area clients different?

23
The Study Area
Agencies of the East Alabama Food Bank are found
in Lee, Macon, Chambers, Tallapoosa, Bullock,
Randolph, and Russell Counties, with the greatest
concentration of member agencies in Lee County.
The urbanized portion of Lee County, where the
East Alabama Food Bank is located, has two
neighboring cities (Auburn and Opelika) with
combined populations of over 50 thousand people.
Ten out of twelve pantries were associated
with churches or religious groups.
24
Interviews
Six metro area (Auburn-Opelika) and six non-metro
area pantries were selected via probability in
proportion to size. We selected 10 clients from
each agency for face to face interviews. We were
able to complete 96 interviews. The remainder
were no-shows or refusals. Most interviews were
conducted at the pantry site.
25
Differences in Clients
Very few responses were statistically different
across metro, non-metro clients. In the paper,
responses for each sub-group are reported, as
well as the overall response pattern.
26
East Alabama Clients Are

• Women (89)
• Poor (85 have family incomes below 20,000)
• Of diverse ages
• Often poorly educated (43 did not finish high
  school)
• Frequently African American (61)
• Likely to be single parents (59)

27
37 of directors reported being African American,
compared to 61 of EAFB clients interviewed.
Photo Source America's Second Harvest
28
Employment Characteristics

• 35 disabled
• 8 retired
• 19 working full-time
• 8 working part time
• 13 homemakers
• 14 unemployed
• 2 students

29
Hardships
30
Food Hardships
31
Food Hardships
32
Government Programs
33
Food Stamps
Only 35 of respondents used food stamps.
Follow-up questions explored why 65 of
respondents did not use stamps. We also asked
food stamp recipients about their stamps.
34
Exploring Non-Use of Stamps

• 11 respondents had stamps stopped in previous
  year 4 had income increases, 1 chose to stop,
  the rest gave no reason.
• 21 respondents had applied for stamps half had
  been rejected, the rest were waiting to hear.
• A few respondents reported that applying for
  stamps was not worth the trouble.

35
Experiences with Stamps

• 19 of the 33 food stamp recipients had used
  stamps for more than 2 years.
• About half received less than 100 per month.
• Most said the food stamps did not last all month.
• 17 of the 33 reported having their benefits cut
  in previous year (1998-1999).

36
Food Pantry Use
37
Food Pantry Satisfaction
38
Food Pantry Satisfaction
39
Significant Metro/Non-Metro Differences

• About the same percentage (28) of metro and
  non-metro respondents work for wages, but the
  non-metro respondents are more likely to work
  full time.
• Non-metro respondents were more likely to get SSI
  (52 versus 34).
• Non-metro respondents report being able to get
  food at the pantry more often.
• Metro area respondents more likely to run out of
  food.

40
Significant Metro/Non-Metro Differences

• Non-metro respondents more likely to have used
  pantry more than one-year (61 versus 28).
• Non-metro area has larger group of older clients.
• Non-metro respondents more likely to strongly
  disagree that they feel judged.
• Non-metro respondents would prefer food pantry to
  food stamps (51 compared to 29 of metro
  respondents.)

41
Long-Term Clients

• What factors raise the likelihood of being a
  long-term client?
• Logit model
• Dependent variable, 1 if used pantry a year or
  longer, 0 otherwise.

42
Model Results
Significant at .01 level
Rural, African-Americans are more likely to be
long-term clients.
43
Conclusions

• Churches are highly involved in food pantry
  activities in Alabama and Mississippi
• Although directors may harbor some suspicions
  about clients, the clients in East Alabama felt
  they were treated with respect.
• Clients tend to be low-income women, raising
  children as a single parent.

44
Conclusions

• Directors tend to be well-educated, highly
  church-involved women of medium household income.
• Disabilities, poor education, and other problems
  may prevent some clients from achieving food
  security without assistance.
• Only 35 percent of clients used food stamps.

45
The Policy Picture
Food pantries in many areas are already strained
to meet demand. If demand growth continues,
especially with another economic downturn, the
private sector probably will be unable to bridge
the hunger gap. Expansion of the TEFAP program
(federal program providing food to food banks)
might help, but if the government role
expands, food pantries could lose their
flexibility.
46
The Policy Picture
In our study, we were unable to find out why so
few food pantry clients (35 percent) were using
food stamps. We did find that some had applied
and been refused, and others said they were not
eligible. Others did not give a reason for not
applying. The growth of food banking leaves
open the question of whether our government
policies are providing a sufficient safety net.