Feeling Grateful for Food

For those of us who’ve struggled with eating and food issues, it’s not always easy to feel grateful for good. It can all feel quite complicated when food is sometimes a source of shame, guilt, or frustration, among other things. It’s easy to get lost in those details and forget how important food actually is.

But I want to take a moment and express how grateful I am to have food, to have access to the foods I want, and not have to worry about where my next meal is coming from.

This is appropriate timing with Thanksgiving coming up, but what really got me thinking about it has been reading about all the concerns about food insecurity lately.

Food scarcity for too many

As you may know, our recent government shutdown included a battle over whether or not to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as we entered the second month of the shutdown.

Based on 2024 data, nearly 42 million people in the United States rely on SNAP benefits each month. That’s a little over 12% of the population, so it’s a lot of people. The prospect of cutting off that assistance was significant. (Now that the shutdown has ended, this should hopefully start up again.)

Even apart from that, during the shutdown, most federal workers weren’t getting paid, even though some of them had to work. One of my friends who works for the TSA said that they were getting a lot of donated food in their break room, although unfortunately, since she can’t have gluten, none of it was an option for her. But those who were furloughed didn’t have an office or a break room to go to and had to rely on savings, even while not knowing how long this would drag out.

And food costs are simply higher now than they were this time last year. The cost of food is increasing more than the general inflation, particularly with certain foods like beef.

All of this leads to more people than ever experiencing food insecurity and not knowing if they’ll be able to put food on the table.

More people stepping up

It’s therefore been heartening to see all the people who are stepping up to help. So many places in my area have been holding food drives and offering support for those who are going hungry. My church is one of them, and we’re doing a targeted food drive to help Project FEED (Food Emergency Exchange Depot).

When no one was sure if SNAP benefits would be granted for November, local restaurants offered free meals to those impacted. In turn, community members donated to the places offering free meals to ensure that they had enough money to continue offering free meals.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel used his platform to announce that they would be hosting a food donation center, which he called the “Big, Beautiful Food Bank”.

Almost every day, I’ve seen articles in the paper or in newsletters about organizations doing their best to make sure everyone gets fed. Just this morning, my local paper had an article about a food bank in Harrison, Maine, and what they do to feed 1,100 families a week. This includes:

• Sorting and packaging thousands of pounds of food, much of it donated from local grocery stores

• Planning delivery routes and then delivering groceries to those who can’t get to the food bank

• Distributing food boxes to those who drive there

• Answering the phone at literally any hour to help those who don’t have anything to eat

It’s amazing how much effort all of these people are putting in, and I’m very grateful to them and everyone else who works to make sure their neighbors don’t go hungry. At the same time, I’m frustrated that we don’t have better systems in place to ensure that people aren’t in this position to begin with. Because we have plenty of food – that has never been the problem.

A season of gratitude

As we enter a time of gratitude, I want to say I’m very grateful to all the farmers and delivery drivers and grocery stores and everyone else involved in the food chain. I’m also extremely thankful that I can afford food for both myself and my pets.

If you’re also in the fortunate position not to worry about food, you could consider donating to a local food pantry. Here in Maine, I donate every year to the Good Shepherd Food Bank, but there are plenty of other options, and they can use all the help they can get right now.

If you’re willing and able to contact your representatives, remind them that access to food should be non-negotiable, for all of us, and you’d like to see them work towards making that a reality. I don’t know if they’ll listen, but it can’t hurt to give them that message.

And though it’s a bit early, I hope you and your friends and families have a happy Thanksgiving.