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Survey: Quarter-million Ozark residents use food pantries

food pantrySPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A new survey says more than a quarter-million Ozarks residents used a food pantry at least once in the last year.

The Hunger in America study says 261,300 of the nearly 1.2 million people in the 28 counties served by the Ozarks Food Harvest used the pantries. That’s a 69 percent increase from the group’s survey four years ago.

The Springfield News-Leader reports  those using the pantries are also receiving more food, an 85 percent increase over the 2010 study.

The study found that the typical person using the Ozarks Food Harvest is white, age 30-49, with a family of two or three. Only 4 percent live in temporary housing or on the streets, and most of them work, although 76 percent make less than 20,000 a year.

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