(Harrisburg) -- With the federal poverty level reaching a 17-year high, hunger is on the rise in the state. Since 2008, there's been a 44 percent increase in the need for food assistance in the commonwealth. Republican State Senator Mike Brubaker of Lancaster County, who co-chairs the Legislative Hunger Caucus, says thousands of children don't have enough to eat. "In 2011, over 1.6 million Pennsylvanians were food insecure. That's 21 percent of our children," he says. "These statistics are simply unacceptable." Brubaker says one in every five Pennsylvanians goes hungry everyday. The statewide poverty rate is currently 13.4 percent, while the federal poverty rate weighs in at 15.1 percent.