Hunger Count 2010:

From the SHARE web site:
How does the Tri-cities compare to Canada?

On Tuesday November 1, 2011 Food Banks Canada released a compelling report documenting the use of Food Banks across Canada. We thought you would want to know how the Tri-cities community compares so we have put together the following for you.

Measure	Canada	Tri-cities
Increase in people receiving food bank support from 2008 (pre-recessionary) to 2011`	26%	30%
% of population using Food Bank	2.5%	4%
% of those receiving food were children and youth under 18	38%	47%
% who rent	63%	79%
% who own their home	7%	5%
Homeless	6%	4.4%
Income Assistance	52	32
Current or recent employment	18%	23%
Disability	13%	27%
No income	5%	7%
Pension	7%	10%
Student Loan	2%	1%

• Food Bank clients are eligible to come to the Food Bank once every two weeks. The only exception is for families with pregnant and nursing women or with children under one year. These families can come weekly for a hamper that is supplemented with fresh produce, eggs, cheese and dairy to give baby the best start.

2010/2011 Food Hamper Contents

Typical Hamper Content (average)	Small 1 person	Med 2-3 people	Large 4-5 people	Extra large 6+ people
No. of items/bag	10	14	18	22

SHARE Food Bank distributed 20,656 hampers in 2010~2011

Who is turning to food banks in Canada

There is no single, typical profile. The people helped include families with children, employed people whose wages are not sufficient to cover basic living essentials, individuals on social assistance, and Canadians living on a fixed income, including people with disabilities and seniors.
Consider these figures from HungerCount 2011:

• 93,000 people each month access a food bank for the first time
• 38% of those turning to food banks are children and youth
• 7% of adults helped are over age 65
• 10% of people assisted are Aboriginal
• 52% of households helped receive social assistance
• 18% have income from current or recent employment
• 13% receive disability-related income supports
• 35% of food banks ran out of food during the survey period
• 55% of food banks needed to cut back on the amount of food provided to each household