Kori Reed, executive director of the ConAgra Foods Foundation

As we wrap up a short work week and look forward to giving thanks for the good food and great company we are about to enjoy, I am thinking about families who may be struggling this year to put food on the table, especially during the holidays. This is a time when my own kids look forward to their favorite food dishes, and I am thinking about how it would be if I had to look into their faces and say maybe next year – not because I didn’t want to make it, but because I didn’t have the means to make it.  

According to a recent MSNBC report, the average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving meal for 10 will be $43.47, that’s 56 cents higher than last year’s average of $42.91. This makes budgets tighter for all of us, but especially those families already needing the extra help this season. The UDSA reports 17.4 million households were food insecure at some point in 2009. What’s alarming is that these families in need are more than likely some of those living in our own neighborhoods.

Here are some easy ways to help:

• Sign the No Kid Hungry Pledge and commit your support to end childhood hunger by 2015.
• Find your local food bank and contribute cash or donate a food item. The top items food banks need during the holiday season are relatively inexpensive and can be found in almost every grocery store nationwide. These items include canned tuna, canned peaches, peanut butter, green beans and macaroni and cheese.
• Or if you want to get more involved, volunteer to serve a meal or help in another way.

During my time with the ConAgra Foods Foundation, I am so grateful that I have witnessed first-hand the wonderful things people do to help others in the community. Those “gifts” range from volunteering countless hours to making large cash contributions,  to a senior citizen on a fixed income donating $1 (which proportionate to income is a massive gift.) I am thankful for all the wonderful people I’ve been fortunate enough to meet, including families and children who benefit from the support of our non-profit partners and the heroes among us who have started with small steps.I am grateful for every person willing to take that first, second or third step, and I hope you will join us to fight hunger, wherever you are on that journey.