Feeling more appreciative than ever before this holiday season

As we are now upon another holiday season, having celebrated Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful to be able to spend this time with my mother and friends.

I am approaching the holidays this year with a renewed sense of gratitude. For me, 2025 has "hit different," as young people say, because I've seen an immense need for food and other essential resources for daily living across our nation. In September, Matt Habash, the president of Mid-Ohio Food Collective, said in a local ABC News report that food insecurity was "by far the worst" he has seen in over 41 years of serving 20 counties.

Habash explained that what makes this surge in families needing more assistance with putting food on the table especially concerning is that they are the working poor and "not our typical image of somebody that's on the street that's homeless." They have jobs and work hard, but their income has not kept pace with basic expenses due to rising inflation.

Habash also pointed out that the numbers for people needing food were "up 58% over the peak of COVID" and that, due to decreases in government funding, Ohio food banks are not able to fill their shelves as much as they did in previous years. Reflecting on the need in Ohio and the potential national catastrophe regarding SNAP benefits, which was averted after the government shutdown ended, I thought about how my maternal grandmother used to tell me about the soup and bread lines people stood in during the Great Depression. Such images seemed farfetched to me as a child, even when I saw photos documenting this period in history books at school. But here we are in our present time, with people still greatly suffering.

I mentioned in a recent column that my church gave Thanksgiving baskets to people living in the community near our ministry. We ended up with some extra food and were able to bless a young woman with a toddler and her mother with two turkeys.

I have been more appreciative this year than I ever have before. As I make my grocery rounds and fill my cart with favorite holiday treats like all-natural vanilla ice cream, assorted gourmet nuts, sharp cheddar cheese and ginger ale, I think about those who cannot afford these things and are barely making ends meet. I also think about how incredibly fortunate I have been never to have gone without a table full of food on Thanksgiving. After our Thanksgiving basket giveaway, my pastor mentioned that our church will become more involved in feeding the hungry next year.

With limited financial resources for Ohio food banks and so many more people visiting them, the year-round need is much greater. It is beyond gratifying to know what my time and resources will mean to a family whose dollars are stretched thin. I am truly thankful to be a blessing to give.

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