Canned food at the Community Kitchen in New YorkMIKE SEGAR
A new report says food-bank use in Canada has risen 9.2 per cent in the past year, mainly because the recession is still hitting poor people hard.
Food Banks Canada says the number of people using food banks has skyrocketed in the past two years - by 28 per cent since 2008 and now at the highest level since 1997.
The report says people are going hungry partly because they lost their jobs during the recession, and now their unemployment benefits are running out.
Or, they've been able to find new jobs, but often the jobs are in service industries and don't pay enough to support them.
Food banks are doing what they can to meet rising demand, but 35 per cent ran out of food at some point and 50 per cent needed to cut back on the amount they provided to each household.