An Examination of Monthly Food Pantry Cycles in the Context of SNAP Benefits
The SNAP program provides food budget discounts to needy families whereas food panties acquire donations of food to hand out to the needy for free.
MILWAUKEE, Feb. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may be the most notable Food Assistance Programs available nationally. The SNAP program provides food budget discounts to needy families whereas food panties acquire donations of food to hand out to the needy for free. According to new research, pantry-goers do not always exhaust pantry options. In a food bank network where clients were able to visit pantiries up to twice per week, ¾ of them visited once per month or less, often at predictable times of the month. So how does the food pantry intake cycle interact with SNAP?
In the new article, "The Other Half: An Examination of Monthly Food Pantry Cycles in the Context of SNAP Benefits," Anne Byrne and David Just from Cornell University find out if the food pantry visitation cycle over the course of a month and how it might interact with the SNAP cycle.
Byrne says, "Food pantry visitation exhibits a monthly cycle whereby more clients visit later in the month. In the region studied, this increase in visitation coincides with the period when SNAP benefits are likely to be depleted and is most pronounced among those who are likely to be on SNAP. Thus, we conclude that there is evidence that people are using pantries after SNAP benefits run out."
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