There are some shocking stats coming from the Daily Bread Food Bank about children who are going hungry.

Four years after the recession, food bank usage is 18 per cent above pre-recession numbers.

“Forty-five per cent of children go hungry at least once a week and 39 per cent have not eaten for an entire day,” researcher Richard Matern explained.

The statistics were unveiled in the Daily Bread’s hunger snapshot that has launched their fall food drive.

On average, food bank clients are 45 to 64, have graduated university or college and are more likely to be born outside of Canada.

The report found that 32 per cent of clients are children. Twenty-five per cent of those children go hungry at least once a wk because of lack of money.

Hunger is no longer a downtown issue either, According to the Daily Bread’s executive director Gail Nyberg, it’s also a suburban problem.

Sima was a nurse before coming to Canada from Iran eight years ago and said it’s been a struggle.

“Most of the jobs are minimum wage that barely meets the ability to put a roof over their heads and food becomes a luxury,” she said.

The report finds a food bank client spends 71 per cent of their income on housing leaving about $6 a day for food.

The Daily Bread is calling on Ontario to create a housing benefit.

The goal of the fall food drive is 400,000 pounds of food and $400,000.