Impact of changes in the frequency of food pantry utilization on client food security and well-being

Food pantries have traditionally focused on meeting emergency food needs. However, for many clients, food assistance is a long-term need. The frequency with which long-term clients visit food pantries varies; and in general, visiting frequency has been understudied because the focus has largely been on emergency, rather than long-term, food assistance impacts. We leveraged a program innovation to identify the impact of visiting frequency on client outcomes. Using fixed-effect models, we analyzed a panel of 1663 long-term food pantry users observed monthly from 2017 to 2019. Within-client increases in visiting frequency were associated with within-in client improvements in food security and health.