As we are now upon another holiday season, celebrating Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful to be able to spend this time with my mother and friends. Since baking turkey is one of my signature dishes, my friends often tease me because I go to at least three grocery stores to find the best turkey sales by the pound. However, Thanksgiving sides and desserts, such as macaroni and cheese and sweet potato pie, are not in my culinary skillset, so I always end up buying them already prepared. I keep telling myself that I must get my cooking up to par to reflect my Southern heritage, and my mother knows I still need her to direct me in preparing collard greens.

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 felt honored to be used by God as a representation of His love and kindness to give to someone else. God's Word teaches us to be cheerful givers and to provide with a spirit of love from the genuineness of our hearts. Proverbs 3:27-28 says, "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it's in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don't say, 'Come back tomorrow, and then I'll help you'" (NLT). God also promises to "enrich" us "in every thing to all bountifulness," in 2 Corinthians 9:11, when we are generous with what we have, which causes us to express thankfulness to Him.

I have been more appreciative this year than I ever have before. As I make my grocery rounds and fill my cart with other 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.

Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at Ohio State University's Lima campus. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on X: @JjSmojc. To find out more about Jessica Johnson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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