Adams County
Community Hunger Mapping

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Approach 1: Strengthening and Increasing the Accessibility of the Charitable Food System

The charitable food system in Adams County has a demonstrable effect on food insecurity in the community, especially for households with children, who are the most likely to experience hunger. Specifically, Adams County households with children who reported visiting food pantries more than once per month have a very low food security rate 28% lower than similar households who visited once per month or less, with very low food security falling from 46% to 33%. For all household types, the result of accessing charitable food more than once per month is a 20% drop in very low food security, from 40% to 32%.

The positive impact pantries have on neighbors is amplified by several key strengths of the Adams County charitable food system. Overall, pantries are geographically well-placed across the county, providing all residents access to food assistance within a reasonable drive time, and wait times to receive foods at pantries are low. The overwhelming majority (91%) of food insecure individuals in the county have access to a choice pantry, which allows visitors to select the food they receive. The county’s widespread adoption of choice models contributes to strong satisfaction with pantry offerings – 60% of neighbors said they “often” or “always” get foods they are looking for when they visit pantries. Finally, most experiences among food pantry visitors are positive, and Adams County neighbors were less likely to report feeling judged at pantries than their peers in other counties where Community Hunger Mapping projects have been completed.

Approach 1.1: Increase off-hours access, including evening and weekend distributions.

There are currently no weekend food pantry distributions available anywhere in Adams County, and access to evening pantries is strong, but still has sizable gaps. Four in five food insecure individuals (79%) have access to an evening food pantry distribution that is open at least once a month, but access to more frequent evening distributions is limited. 

Off-hours access is critically important because full-time employed households and households with children are among the most likely to face very low food security in Adams County. Households with children and those who reported working full time both have a very low food security rate of 41%, which is 11 percentage points higher than the county average. The impact of limited hours is confirmed by the results of a survey of households who do not currently visit food pantries. Limited hours were tied for the second most common reason why food insecure respondents do not visit the charitable food system. These findings imply that the county’s lack of evening and weekend distributions may be making access difficult for many of the families who would benefit most from assistance.

Approach 1.2: Adjust pantry policies to ensure neighbors in need can visit at least two pantries or two distributions each month.

Pantries should also make other policy and procedural adjustments aimed at ensuring visitors have a positive experience when they seek assistance.

Ensuring that every food insecure individual in Adams County has access to two charitable food distributions per month, regardless of if they are at the same or different physical locations, is a key step toward maximizing the impact the charitable food system can make on food insecurity. One visit per month is not enough to eliminate episodes of hunger for 30% of all households, including almost half of households with children. Currently, pantry policies meaningfully curtail the access neighbors have to the help they need, even though pantries are very well-distributed across the county.

Residents of every census tract in Adams County have access to a pantry within 15 minutes’ drive, and most food insecure individuals (77%) have access to two or more pantries. However, access to two or more distributions drops to 54% of food insecure individuals when restrictions on visit frequency or location are included in the analysis.

Adjusting pantry policies to allow neighbors to visit one pantry more than once per month, or to visit two different pantries a month, therefore represents a key opportunity to meaningfully expand access across the county. Households with the lowest incomes visit the charitable food system more frequently than households with higher incomes in Adams County, indicating that neighbors seek assistance only when they need it. In light of this finding, pantries should not be concerned that all households will begin to visit twice per month simply because it becomes an option.

Approach 1.3: Increase investments, including public policy investments, in Adams County charitable food providers to ensure people have enough food.

In interviews and discussion groups, pantry coordinators expressed worry about being able to source enough product amidst an environment of increasing grocery prices and a rising number of households seeking services.

Funding for charitable food providers has stagnated while governmental supports for households have dropped in the last several years, leading to higher food insecurity rates and record numbers of visits to food pantries. Due to the federal nutrition funding cuts contained in the July 2025 budget reconciliation bill, including large reductions to SNAP, this unfortunate trend will likely continue in the future. Collective advocacy for additional state and federal support will be critical to ensuring Adams County food pantries have enough resources to serve everyone who comes to their doors in search of help.

Approach 2: Encouraging Robust Participation in Key Government Nutrition Programs

Government nutrition programs like SNAP, WIC, school meal programs, and summer meal programs all provide crucial support to food insecure Adams County residents. Adams County has exceedingly strong performance in WIC, with one of the highest participation rates in the entire state; 84% of likely-eligible county residents participate in WIC. These high WIC coverage rates are a strength in Adams County, especially since households with children are at increased risk of food insecurity.

Outside of WIC, there are opportunities to increase participation in other federal programs throughout the county, including SNAP, school meals, and summer meals. Pantries are well-targeted outreach locations for these programs that can leverage their role as trusted community resources to help increase uptake.

Approach 2.1: Increase SNAP Participation through Targeted Outreach

Increasing SNAP participation is one of the biggest opportunities to meaningfully reduce food insecurity in Adams County. Contrary to its state-leading WIC participation rates, Adams County falls near the bottom of the state in SNAP. Adams County is ranked 58^th out of 67 counties in the state in SNAP participation, with a 65% participation rate.

There are several SNAP outreach methods that could be effective in Adams County, including targeted geographic outreach to individuals residing in high-priority areas and community location-based outreach, including at pantries. Priority areas include Biglerville (17307), Littlestown (17340), and Hanover (17331).

Furthermore, less than half of pantry visitors in Adams County reported receiving SNAP, even though 90% are likely to be eligible for the program based on their incomes. The most common reason cited for not participating was “I don’t think I’m eligible,” which shows that there are opportunities for education around SNAP eligibility in the county. Recent changes to SNAP, which is already difficult for many individuals to navigate, have made applications and eligibility increasingly complex, so community providers should offer tailored assistance to individuals interested in applying for benefits.

Approach 2.2: Expand Participation in School Meals and Access to Summer Food Programs

There are major opportunities to increase breakfast participation in Adams County, as students across the county are 30% less likely to eat breakfast at school than their peers across the state. Participation is just 26.3% compared to the 37.5% statewide average. To increase participation and maximize the benefit they and their students can receive from the Commonwealth’s universal school breakfast initiative, schools in Adams County should consider implementing alternative service models, such as grab and go breakfast, breakfast after the bell, and breakfast in the classroom if they do not already do so.

There are opportunities to increase access to federally funded summer meals in Adams County, particularly in Bermudian Springs, Upper Adams, and Conewago Valley school districts as well as outlying areas of Gettysburg Area School District. There were just two SUN Meal sites in Adams County in 2024, and both were in Gettysburg even though there were several eligible areas elsewhere in the county. Most eligible areas in Adams County also qualify as USDA rural, which could allow use of the new rural non-congregate meal service waiver for these programs.

Approach 3: Addressing Upstream and Intersecting Issues with Food Insecurity

 Food insecurity is caused by and associated with a variety of upstream and intersecting factors. Among Adams County pantry visitors, the foremost of these include low incomes despite full-time work, inadequate disability benefit levels, challenges around housing affordability, and chronic health conditions.

Most working-age pantry visitor households report working full time, but a third of full-time workers had incomes below $24,000 a year ($11.50 per hour), and 72% reported incomes below $36,000 a year ($17.30 per hour). Two in five (41%) households who reported full-time work as their main income source experienced very low food security, which is the highest rate for any household income source.These high rates of very low food security among the full-time employed illustrate the precarity of work for many low-income households. Policy proposals that could increase the security of work include an increase in the minimum wage, which remains at $7.25 per hour in Pennsylvania, and “fair work week” legislation that requires companies to give employees their schedules at least two weeks in advance.

Unemployment is not a significant contributor to the need for charitable food assistance in Adams County. Nine in ten pantry visitor households in the county stated that their primary sources of income were Social Security or a pension (38%), full-time work (29%), or Disability or SSI (19%). Anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates should use this finding, which is consistent with the results of other Community Hunger Mapping projects, to dispel pernicious myths about people who visit food pantries and why they do so.  

Households who reported Disability or SSI as their main income source have the second highest very low food security rates at 35%; this is likely due to inadequate benefit levels and strict rules around earning or saving money that keep individuals who rely on these programs from building a personal safety net. Efforts to increase the sufficiency of SSDI and SSI benefits and to implement program reforms, such as the expansion of tax-exempt savings accounts that do not count against program asset limits (ABLE accounts) would help disabled neighbors live less precariously.

Many pantry visitors mentioned having to choose between paying for food and housing-related costs like mortgage or rent (31%) or utilities (36%), showing that housing unaffordability is strongly associated with food insecurity in Adams County. One in nine (11%) pantry visitors had gone through an eviction, foreclosure, or other forced move in the last year, while one in five (21%) worried they would experience a forced move in the coming year. These findings show that pantries should be cognizant that many of the people they serve may have challenges around housing and should offer foods that meet the needs of unstably or marginally housed individuals. Beyond this, pantries and other stakeholders could promote and/or provide referrals to utility assistance programs like LIHEAP or collaborate with housing organizations to offer eviction and foreclosure mediation and prevention programs.

Health systems and the charitable food network should collaborate on efforts to tackle food insecurity as a social determinant of health via Food as Medicine initiatives and other programs, as health and hunger are deeply intertwined. More than half (54%) of pantry visitor households in Adams County had at least one member with a diet-related chronic health condition, including 36% with high blood pressure, 31% with diabetes, and 9% with kidney disease.