Proud Member of:

HUNGER IN SOUTH JERSEY

In 2009, The Food Bank of South Jersey, in collaboration with Feeding America™, assisted in a national Hunger Study in which more than 61,000 individuals who were at risk of hunger and/or food insecurity were interviewed. The following are some key points from this study as it relates to hunger in South Jersey:

HOW MANY CLIENTS RECEIVE EMERGENCY FOOD FROM THE FBSJ?

An estimated 91,240 people have used an emergency feeding program in South Jersey in which 12,000 different people receive emergency food assistance in any given week.

• 39% of the members of households are children under 18 years old.

• 11% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years.

• 9% of the members of households are elderly

• 38% of households include at least one employed adult

• 73% have incomes below the federal poverty level during the previous month.

• 3% are homeless

The Difficult Choice

• 39% of clients served by The Food Bank of South Jersey report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel

• 32% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage

• 27% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care

• 25% had to choose between paying for food and paying for transportation

• 32% had to choose between paying for food and paying for gas for a car  

Our Impact

The Food Bank of South Jersey provided approximately 8.2 million pounds of food and other essentials to more than 200 emergency food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in 2009. In addition to our core program of food collection and distribution, we also have programs that address specific problems such as malnutrition among children and seniors, lack of access to public benefits and emerging programs to provide a sustainable solution to hunger.
 
Food Bank of South Jersey is by far the single most important source of food for charitable feeding programs, accounting for 75% of the food used by pantries, 57% of kitchens’ food, and 48% of shelters’ food.  We are the last safety net for these organizations. Without our support, many of these programs would shut down