EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - A Profile of Food Bank Recipients in Four Communities

A Profile of Food Bank Recipients in Four Communities – Ontario, Canada

Introduction

The study documents the circumstances and experiences of 1,796 individuals accessing food banks in four Ontario communities.

Description

In March 2002, nearly 300,000 people turned to food banks in Ontario for emergency food assistance. In order to arrive at solutions that ensure access to safe, affordable and nutritious food for all – a basic human need and right - it is important to understand the realities of those without such access.

Background information

Despite the rapid expansion of food banks across the province and the growth in the number of people accessing Ontario food programs over the past two decades, few studies have documented the circumstances of food bank recipients in Ontario.

Food bank clients in Sudbury, Kingston, Toronto and Waterloo Region have been the focus of study. Of particular note, the Daily Bread Food Bank has been conducting an annual survey of food bank recipients in the Greater Toronto Area for more than ten years.

Methodology

Following in the research tradition of the Daily Bread’s work, the current study documents the circumstances and experiences of 1,796 individuals accessing food banks in four Ontario communities:

Belleville,
Hamilton,
Ottawa
and Toronto.

Through the administration of a structured questionnaire, interviewers recorded information including:

the gender,
marital status,
household composition,
educational attainment,
employment,
income,
social assistance,
disability status,
housing,
hunger status
and unmet needs of food bank recipients.

Conclusions

Amongst others, the conclusions of the Report included:

The demographic profile of food bank recipients was similar in each community.
Food bank clients included slightly more women, people ranging in age from 14 to 86 years with an average age of 41 years, household sizes from 1 to 14 people with a median average of 2 people per household, and large numbers of single individuals and single parents and a disproportionate number of children at 36.3% of all clients.
Virtually all food bank recipients shared the experience of living in poverty with more than 70% reporting household incomes that were less than half of Statistics Canada’s Low Income Cut off, indicating a substantial depth of poverty.
The majority of adults and many children experienced hunger despite the assistance of a food bank.

Contact info

Community Social Planning Council of Toronto
Phone: +1 416 3510095
cspc@cspc.toronto.on.ca

Publication date

Project finished

01/09/2003

Researcher

Beth Wilson

Article info
ISBN: 1-894199-06-5

Links

Visit the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto website

Download the 'A Profile of Food Bank Recipients in Four Communities – Ontario, Canada' Report (PDF, Eng, 319 KB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Keywords

Social services