During the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s traditional to take time to reflect on our blessings and be grateful for our abundance. As Thanksgiving approaches, many of us are planning to be with family and friends, planning to take some time off work, and planning a fabulous meal and get-together with loved ones. This is also the perfect time for all of us to consider what we can do to contribute in some way to help solve the problem of hunger in our communities and our country. If we decide to take action, however small, it will make a difference. We can start by thinking about at least one thing to do for people who need a bit of help right where we live. One simple thing we can do is donate food to a local food bank. Parents can involve their children in gathering together food to take to local food banks—a great way to demonstrate the power of giving and community service. If you ask your local food bank for suggestions on what is needed most, you’ll be making your contribution really count. Every community has a food bank that depends on donations to provide food to people who have hit hard times, and in today’s economy, food banks need our support more than ever.

It’s a myth that people who need assistance are lazy. Hard working people all over the country have fallen on hard economic times, and out of desperation, many who have never needed outside help have to apply for food stamps and rely on local food banks for the first time to put food on the table. With growing unemployment (the highest numbers in decades) and increasing food costs, local food banks are experiencing massive food shortages, and are simply running out of resources. In America, there are many working poor—people who work for minimum wage or low wages that have not kept up with inflation and the high cost of living, making it difficult to provide adequate nutrition for their families. It’s hard to understand how so many people living in one of the world’s richest nations can work full-time jobs and are still not able to make ends meet, and are forced to go hungry.

Another action step we can take that can become a family activity, is to donate time to a local shelter or soup kitchen. We can help serve food on any day, or even on Thanksgiving. What better way to show our kids, by example, how important it is to become involved in community service, and how much of a difference it can make. And, if our church is involved in a program to help feed the hungry, we can get involved that way.

One in Eight Americans Struggle with Hunger

In addition to these powerful contributions, we can join a group like, “The Hunger Action Center,” an online community of people who advocate for federal, state, and local legislation that helps solve the problems of hunger in our country. This group is powered by “Feeding America,” the country’s largest charitable relief organization supporting 206 food banks in all 50 states.

It’s hard to believe that 35 million people in the United States, the largest and most efficient food grower in the world, are affected by hunger, and the USDA estimates hunger affects over 12 million, one in six, children. One in eight Americans struggle with hunger. Of course, hungry children can’t concentrate in school and are at risk for learning disabilities, poor performance in school, nutritional deficiencies that contribute to health problems, and behavior problems. We know the consequences of hunger in childhood are far reaching, ultimately affecting us all as children become adults lacking the solid foundations of health and education needed to succeed in life. Organizations, such as, the HungerActionCenter, educate its members on the issues of hunger and provide simple action steps to help solve the problem. With our busy schedules, it can seem overwhelming to imagine we can do much to make a dent in this enormous problem. And of course, we’re all dealing with our own life challenges. That’s why I like an organization that allows me to make a difference in some easy and simply steps:

Monthly donations: A monthly donation to a reputable non-profit organization that helps feed hungry people is a way of paying it forward – If you donate money to “Hunger Action Center,” every dollar you contribute pays for nine pounds of food or grocery products to help alleviate hunger. Let’s see, if I sign up online to donate $15 a month that equals 135 lbs. of food per month. Not bad – around 5 lattes!

Many organizations, like the "Hunger Action Center," send newsletters and emails alerting you to campaigns that help enact legislation to solve this growing problem. Often, you can sign petitions online or make a simple call to government officials on specific issues. So, you can make your voice heard and change policy by emailing, calling, and getting involved.

“Hunger Action Center” has focused on policy efforts by working with Congress, as well as state and local officials, to strengthen and expand the programs and solutions available to our nation’s food insecure. They continue to fight for funding and program changes for a variety of critical anti-hunger programs, including the following:

• The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
• Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)
• Food Stamp Program
• Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
• The Good Samaritan Tax Relief Incentive Act

What do Sheryl Crow, Grammy Award winning artist Ben Harper, Benji and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte, and Grammy award-winning artist Jonny Lang have in common? They performed at the “Rock a Little, Feed a Lot” concert in Sept, 2009, in Los Angeles, to raise money for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in conjunction with “Hunger Action Center.”

Please take a minute to see the YouTube video of Bill Moyers discussing “Hunger in America.”