Hunger in Ohio 2006 Survey

September 12, 2007

OHIO ASSOCIATION OF SECOND HARVEST FOODBANKS RELEASES

“NO NAME PLEASE” SURVEY OF HUNGER IN OHIO

COLUMBUS – “I’m on Supplemental Security Income. I get very little Food Stamps. I have a son that I struggle to feed. I get $603 monthly, but I have to pay rent, utilities and buy stuff for my son. With what little I have left over I get food, but it doesn’t last through the month. I’m grateful to be able to come here to get food. Thanks for being able to help me and all the people who need it!” This is a quote from one of the thousands of Ohioans served by the state’s network of 12 Second Harvest Foodbanks and member agencies.

The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks has released its eighth annual No Name Please! Survey, which provides a snapshot of the daily lives of people relying on the emergency food assistance network to provide food for their children, parents and themselves.

“These stories are, to say the least, heart wrenching,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. “They tell of anything from families who work for a living, but only make enough to pay the bills, to individuals that have been laid off and are unable to find new employment due to the ongoing decline in the economy.”

The 17 question survey was conducted at the largest local food pantry in each county in Ohio and requested information such as family size, employment status, education and monthly income. According to the survey, “the average monthly Food Stamp benefit statewide of respondent households was $196, just $6.44 a day for a family of three.”

Additional key findings from the survey reported:

The average household income for a family of three who visited a food pantry was $770 per month or $9,240 annually.
Seventy-one percent of households surveyed reported receiving benefits such as food stamps (65 percent), Medicaid (48 percent), Social Security Disability Insurance (29 percent) and free/reduced price school meals for kids (22 percent).
Only nine percent of households surveyed received government welfare cash assistance from Ohio Work’s First.
Forty-four percent of the 11,525 able-bodied adults (adults who are not retired or disabled) ages 18 or older who responded to the survey were working in some capacity.
Out of 8,433 households that responded, 43 percent reported using a food pantry’s service at least one to three times during the past 12 months.

In 2006, the No Name Please! Survey was completed by 10,394 households, containing 32,599 individuals. Of those surveyed, 40 percent were children under the age of 18, 51 percent were adults 18 to 59 years of age and 9 percent were adults over 60 years of age. The survey is distributed to families and individuals seeking food assistance during a 20 day period in July and August at the largest local county food pantry. In 2006, all 88 counties were surveyed and 107 pantries participated. The survey helps Ohio’s foodbanks and their member agencies track trends among their clients and serves as an education tool for elected officials, local statisticians and national agencies and advocates.

OASHF represents 12 foodbanks, which distribute food to more than 3,300 member charities, including food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other food assistance organizations, located across Ohio in all 88 counties.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the survey, please call 614/221-4336.

CONTACT: Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, 614/221-4336 or 614/271-4803 (cell)

2006 Hunger in Ohio.pdf (To view this document you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader.)