What’s your biggest concern about the upcoming holiday season? I suspect that some of you are worried that your turkey won’t be ready at the same time the rest of your food is. Or that your guests will be ready to sit down to eat before it’s ready to come out of the oven. Perhaps you are already getting anxious about having enough time to get all of the advance preparations accomplished before your guests arrive. Maybe you are contributing one food item to the feast at someone else’s house and you’re worried that you won’t have made enough to go around. But probably many of you are making resolutions to eat less than you usually do during the holidays.

This article is not going to discuss ways for you to eat less (just eat smaller portions and take a 3 mile walk!) but, rather, ways to share your bounty. There are many people who are not worried about overeating at this holiday time.

Did you know that 11.1 million people in the United States experience hunger? This means that they skip meals, eat too little or go without food for an entire day. Of this total, 430,000 are children. Research has shown that preschool and school-aged children who experience severe hunger have more behavior problems, chronic illness, and anxiety and depression than children without hunger.

Food insecurity is a term to describe the inability to acquire or consume an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so.

During this economic downturn in our country more people are experiencing food insecurity and are finding that they need to seek food aid at local food banks. We can express our gratitude for our ability to buy enough food to keep ourselves from being hungry by contributing to the needs of these organizations.

I’m sure there are several organizations within your community that can use your involvement in increasing the nutritional status of the hungry in your locale. Watch for announcements of food drives. Local grocers often have containers at the door to collect non-perishable food items. A monetary donation will buy more food than an actual food donation. Donate your time to help sort food donations that come into food banks. Volunteers are also needed at many sites to help with feeding programs.

Find a way to take action to help others have a season that is food secure.

Here are two food bank listings to get you started.
http://feedingamerica.org/
http://www.magicyellow.com/category/Food_Banks/Cities.html