In 1984, with a goal of raising money for famine relief in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure wrote the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and assembled a supergroup known as Band Aid for recording duties. For anyone old enough to remember, this song put the phrase Feed the World into the popular lexicon. It's been re-recorded a few times over the years, and it continues to sell millions of records and raise millions of dollars for the cause. The general sentiment of the song is to remind us that we should extend a hand to our fellow humans when we see a need. While that's something we should always strive for, as we enter the holiday season it's important to keep that idea front and center. Providing food is one way that Centers have been doing that for a long time. Since we're in the season of eating, we're dedicating this issue to the different ways that Centers feed people.
Let's have a look.
Welcome to...Fun Facts - the
Feed The World
edition
Enjoy!
In response to community need, many Centers are now involved in multiple parts of the food distribution landscape. Centers no longer only provide a congregate or home-delivered meal (HDM), they've expanded to curbside pickups and food bank/pantry services.
- 28% of Centers across the Network provide emergency food services through a food bank or pantry
- Almost 9% are still doing curbside pickups (no sign of going away)
- 62% serve at least 3 congregate meals per week
- 19% have an active HDM function
The following graph shows the percentage of recipients for each meal distribution type by calendar month. The report runs from October 2023 through the end of September 2024.
A few things stood out to us. First, the food pantry numbers (orange line) spike in November and December - holiday months for many. Second, curbside pickups (green line) are highest in the winter and summer months. We don't know enough to understand why, but it's worth noting. Congregate (brown) and HDM (yellow) have very little monthly variation.
For those in a position of being the food bank/pantry in your community, we've created a special household profile report. Drop us a line if you need help. We've highlighted four new reports, including this one, on the top of the left sidebar.
We were curious about any age differences between the participants in the food distribution options above.
Each data point above represents the percentage of participants in age cohort that are clients of the different meal distribution types. We connected the data points with a colored line to more easily see the trends for each. Relative to congregate participants (brown line), Food Pantry customers (orange line) tend to be younger, while HDM clients (yellow) tend to be older. Curbside recipients are in the middle of those two but still somewhat older than congregate participants.
There were other demographic differences as well:
- Food pantry clients are more than 2X as likely to live alone as congregate participants
- Curbside customers are 23% more likely to be male than food pantry participants
- Congregate participants are 18X more likely to be married than curbside customers
- The average HDM client is 4 years older than the average congregate visitor
Roughly 20% of Centers have an event scheduled that we could identify as a Thanksgiving meal or party. Here are the most entertaining names:
The most popular date for a Thanksgiving party/meal is the Friday before Thanksgiving- this is true in the US and Canada. The most common start time is 11:45 and the average duration is 2 hours and 15 minutes.
But it's not just about food! There are plenty of other Thanksgiving-themed events:
Unrelated to Thanksgiving, there were a lot of trips on the Turkey Train by Centers in the New England area. A little research showed that this is a train ride in New Hampshire where a full turkey dinner is served. For the record, that is not at all what we were imagining :) Looks like fun!
If there is a community need, Centers often step in to provide a solution. Pre-COVID, there were only a handful of Centers providing curbside meals - that blossomed to 60% in 2021 as you pivoted to help your customers. Although the number has retreated, there is still a need (and funding) in many places. The growth in Centers providing emergency food bank/pantry services really started about 10 years ago and has increased steadily every year. If you're finding yourself in that position, there are resources available to help you get started and to find funding.
Next Month
There will be no Fun Facts next month as we take a break to spend time with family and friends. Keep an eye out for the Big List Double Edition that will be delivered on January 2nd.
Happy Holidays!
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