• About the Study
• Methodology
  • Instrument Development
  • Training
  • Agency Survey
  • Client Survey
  • Response Rates
  • Analysis Methods
  • Reporting Conventions
  • Degree of Comparability
  • Number of A2H Clients Served
    • Background and Limitations
    • Overview of Findings
    • Estimates of Number of Pantries
    • Estimate of Number of Pantry Clients
    • Number of Kitchens
    • Different Clients Served By Kitchens
    • Shelters and Shelter Clients
    • Estimates of Different Clients
    • Discussion of Participation Estimates
• Key Findings
• Who We Serve
• How We Serve
• Local Picture
• Snapshot Comparisons
• Media Center

Overview of Findings (4.2)

Our basic approach to deriving annual estimates of clients served annually is to start with survey-based estimates of clients served per week, then apply several extrapolation factors to get an annual figure.  As we discuss in detail, however, we believe that considerable margins of error are unavoidable in extrapolating from weekly estimates to annual estimates of clients served.  Therefore, we present ranges of annual estimates, based on different assumptions concerning degrees of client turnover in the system. 1

Overall, we estimate that A2H pantries, kitchens, and shelters serve between 23.7 and 27.0 million different people annually (Table 4.2.1).  Of these, an estimated 4.5 million are served in a typical week.

Table 4.2.1
ESTIMATES OF NUMBERS OF DIFFERENT CLIENTS SERVED BY THE A2H NETWORK
(WEEKLY AND ANNUAL ESTIMATES)

 

	Each Agency Type Considered Separately	After Correcting for Overlap of Clients Across Agencies a
Weekly Estimates
Pantries (Persons)	4.1 million	4.1 million
(Households)	1.5 million	1.5 million
Kitchens (Persons)	0.5 million	0.3 million
Shelters (Persons)	0.2 million	0.1 million
Total (Persons)		4.5 million
Annual Estimates
Pantries (Persons)	21.7 to 24.7 million	21.7 to 24.7 million
(Households)	8.0 to 9.1 million	8.0 to 9.1 million
Kitchens (Persons)	1.8 to 2.0 million	1.2 to 1.4 million
Shelters (Persons)	1.3 to 1.4 million	0.8 to  0.8 million
Total (Persons)		23.7 to 27.0 million

a Any client using a pantry is counted under pantries.  Clients using just kitchens and shelters are counted under kitchens.

By far, the largest client group is that served by pantries, which account for more than 90% of the annual total.  Kitchens are the next most commonly used provider.

1 The ranges given are based on uncertainty associated with measuring one of the annual extrapolation factors.  They do not reflect statistical sampling error, which adds additional uncertainty.  We discuss this later in this chapter.