The holidays are a time when many celebrate with traditional foods and special meals. However, as we enter the 2013 holiday season, more than ever people in our community will be challenged to have a meal at all, much less a holiday feast.

During this time of year — so often illustrated with the faces of happy children — we know that one in five children in our region is at risk of going to bed hungry tonight.

By Lisa Ousley, SoSA West director

Each week in the Kansas City area as many as 66,000 different people seek emergency food assistance. In Missouri, one in four children lives in homes where there is not enough food; in Kansas one in five children live in food-insecure homes.

Yet every year, we throw away more than enough nutritious food to feed each hungry family, senior, and child in the U.S. — more than 96 billion pounds — according to the USDA. Food that could nourish our citizens ends up in landfills.