A new study from LifeWay shows almost a quarter of American families have sought help from church food pantries to meet their needs.

The survey of 1,158 families found that 22 percent have “relied on a church program to feed their families.”  Only 26 percent of those families were churchgoers and only one third said they were Christians.

“There is an abundance of food in the U.S., but plenty of people still go hungry,” LifeWay Research vice president Scott McConnell said.

The food bank network Feeding America said that 50 million Americans struggle to put food on the table.

“Many churches respond by faithfully following the biblical principle of being open handed to the poor and needy by maintaining well-stocked food pantries to share,” McConnell said.