Facts about hunger in Canada

As Canadians we are always ready to jump and help anyone in need. Right now in Winnipeg, we are trying to find food/shelter/comfort for the individuals and families who have been forced from their homes due to the wild fires in Island Lake, Manitoba. On a broader scale, people are reaching out to help those dealing with massive flooding all over Texas.

What we often forget, and it doesn’t matter what city, province, state or country you’re from, is that there is need at our doorstep everyday. There are working parents who don’t have enough to feed their children in our cities, soup kitchens that run out of food regularly and local food banks begging for donations everyday, all year long, not just at Christmas.

I want my children to know why wasting food is wrong. Why we share our food with food banks and with friends and family who don’t have gardens. This is why.

Why we should all donate any extra harvest

Here are some facts that will open your eyes to the necessity of food banks and why we donate our extra produce to Winnipeg Harvest.

1. In Canada, 841,191 people need food banks just to make ends meet each month.

2. 14 million visits were made to Canadian food banks in 2013 year. That is 15 times the population of Nova Scotia.

3. Each month, 90,000 Canadians are forced to ask for help from a food bank for the first time.

4. 62 per cent of households who rely on food banks earn the majority of their income from employment. Extremely low levels of income force them to turn to food banks as they are unable to afford even adequate housing, nutrition, transportation and communication.

5. On average 310, 461 children are helped each month through Canadian food banks. That is the equivalent of 6,700 full school buses.

6. Nearly half of households helped are families with children, and close to half of these are two-parent families.

7. 47 per cent of children in northern Canada do not know where their next meal is coming from.

8. 38 per cent of food distributed by food banks is perishable – milk, eggs, bread and fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables.

9. The number of people receiving food assistance in Canada has not dropped below 700,000 per month for the better part of the past 15 years.

10. 4,308,140 meals and snacks were served in 2014 by soup kitchens, shelters, school breakfast initiatives and other programs.

Information from HungerCount 2014, a national study released by Food Banks Canada. Visit foodbankscanada.ca for more information. Facts re-printed from an article I wrote in Local Gardener http://www.localgardener.net for Gardening with Kids: Gardens can feed the body and soul.