OTTAWA – A by the numbers look at food bank use from the Food Banks Canada HungerCount 2015 report:
852,137: unique individuals who received food from a food bank in March 2015, making more than 1.2 million visits that month.
78,693: people who accessed a food bank for the first time in March 2015.
5 per cent: Families using foodbanks who are also homeless.
67 per cent: Food bank users who live in rental housing and pay market rents.
7 per cent: Food bank users who own their home.
35.8 per cent: Food bank users who are children.
16 per cent: Food bank users who are First Nations, Metis, or Inuit.
10 per cent: Food bank users who are immigrants or refugees who arrived in Canada in the past 10 years.
4,395,601: Meals and snacks provided annually through soup kitchens, shelters, school breakfast programs and other initiatives.
