Description

	Provides emergency food and nutrition assistance to low-income Americans, including the elderly and homeless.
	Ships food commodities (includes processing and packaging) to individual States. The amount received by each State depends on its population of unemployed persons and persons with incomes below the poverty level.
	Supplies commodities to the States, which then distribute the foods to local agencies that directly serve the public, such as food banks, shelters, and soup kitchens. States also receive administrative funds to help store and distribute donated commodities.

Background

	The program was first authorized as the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program in 1981 to distribute surplus commodities to households.
	The Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 authorized funding for the Secretary of Agriculture not only to distribute surplus foods, but also to purchase additional foods needed for distribution.
	The name was changed to The Emergency Food Assistance Program under the 1990 Farm Bill.

Participants

	Each State sets its own income limits for household eligibility. No income test is applied to people who receive meals at congregate feeding sites such as soup kitchens or homeless shelters.
	359.5 million total pounds of food (including bonus commodities) was purchased in FY 2006.

Budget

	$195.5 million in FY 2006.
	$189.5 million in FY 2007 (est).

Contact Information

For complete information, visit www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/programs/tefap  or contact your State agency that administers the TEFAP. View Agency listings under “State DA Contacts.”

Last modified: October 2007