Food pantry characteristics in urban and rural areas of Nebraska

Background: Hunger is a staggering problem that exists in Nebraska, a primarily rural state, and across the United States. Few studies have comparatively looked at the role of food pantries in a rural/urban context. The purpose of this study is to compare characteristics of rural and urban organizations providing emergency food services and present a profile to describe the charitable response to hunger across the state.

Methods: Participants will be drawn from a contact list provided by two agencies involved in food hardship assistance in Nebraska and local health departments in each county yielding 350 unique contacts. A series of three recruitment e-mails will be sent in May and June 2010. The validated Hunger In America 2010 survey will be used to collect data via an online survey. Measures include size of program, services provided, sources of food, and adequacy of food supplies. Results: Results of this study will provide a detailed listing of food hardship services and programs as well as the ability to compare emergency food services across rural and urban areas of Nebraska using descriptive and univariate analyses. Data collection will be completed by June 2010 and analyses by August 2010. Results presented will compare emergency food services across rural and urban areas of Nebraska. Conclusions: This information will be an important first step in gathering in information that can help inform anti-hunger efforts in Nebraska and provide an assessment model for other, primarily rural, states looking to address food hardship through food pantries.