I know that Valentines Day is tomorrow, but as we think about honoring our loved ones, I want you to consider that many Canadians face hunger every day. For those of us who are fortunate enough not to be in that situation,we consider giving flowers and candies to our loved ones. Something to think about, instead of honoring your love with candies or flower, perhaps a donation to the foodbank in their name would be a more thoughtful gift
Every March the Food Bank of Canada puts out its Hunger Count, Now is a good time for us to think about supporting your local Food Bank, Here are some sad statistics from last March.
Every March the Food Bank of Canada puts out its Hunger Count, Now is a good time for us to think about supporting your local Food Bank, Here are some sad statistics from last March.
In March
2015, 852,137 people received food from a food bank in Canada. More than
one-third of those helped were children. 80,000 people seek help for the first time each
month
Households that make the difficult decision to ask for help
from food banks tend to be the most severely food insecure because their
incomes are too low to cover even the most basic needs:
· 7% of
households helped by food banks live primarily on income from a pension
· 16% of
those assisted earn the majority of their income through work
· 18% of
households receive disability-related income supports
· 46% of
households accessing food banks are on provincial social assistance benefits
The households that request assistance are often forced to
limit their spending on food because of the high and relatively inflexible cost
of housing;
· 5% of
households accessing food banks are homeless, with the majority of these living
temporarily with family or friends
· 7% own
their homes
· 20% of those assisted live in social housing,
with subsidized rents
· 67% of
households helped live in rental housing and pay market-level rents
Finally, the family composition of those accessing food
banks is diverse:
· 10% of
households accessing food banks are couples without children
· 44% of
those helped are families with children, and nearly half of these are
two-parent families
· 46% of
households assisted are composed of single individuals – a group that continues
to grow, having gradually increased from just 30% of the total in 2001
The Hunger Count not only tells us how many Canadians do
not have food security, it makes recommendations on how to solve the problem.
It is an important document and it can be read in full here
The following snapshots from the Hunger Count shows the extent of the problem:
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