As households across Maryland prepare for Thanksgiving with its usual bounty of turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (and in German-influenced Baltimore, sauerkraut, of course), it is a useful time of the year to think of how we might do a better job of sharing.

After all, the original Thanksgiving commemorates the peaceful breaking of bread between European settlers and Native Americans more than four centuries ago. While it is highly unlikely that traditional account is anything close to historically accurate, the long-cherished sentiment remains: It is a distinctly American value to want a large table, a full menu and to leave no one hungry. So how are we doing on that front?

The answer is we could be doing better, much better.

Hunger remains a significant problem in Maryland as it is across the rest of the country. A recent survey suggests nearly one in three children in this state is not getting enough to eat. Inflation has raised the cost of food and there are households where — even with the benefit of food stamps (more properly known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) — families are struggling. Meanwhile, there are fears that the incoming administration under President-elect Donald Trump will make cutting social safety net programs including SNAP and Medicaid a top priority to help offset planned tax cuts.

Yet there is also reason for optimism. While Carmen Del Guercio, president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, reports that an alarming 35% of Maryland households with children are not getting enough food (a serious uptick since the COVID-19 pandemic days), efforts to help are on the upswing as well. Donations to the Maryland Food Bank and to food pantries across the state have increased. More nonprofits are joining in the fight. The Enoch Pratt Free Library opened a free grocery in its Highlandtown branch earlier this year, for example.

Also over the past year, the MFB has put several “mobile markets” — essentially bookmobiles of food — on the road from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland distributing 726,331 pounds of produce and more over a 12-month period. A record 25,000 turkey dinners capable of serving 100,000 or more Marylanders are now being handed out through local food pantries.

“We are hearing from people who want to help,” says Del Guercio who reports $22 million in donations this year, an 8% increase from 2023. “People aren’t just running away from the problem.”

Local food banks are always looking for volunteers and donations (Check the website mdfoodbank.org/ways-to-give/ for specifics). One of the best ways people can help is simply to give a financial donation. Unopened, non-perishable food is always welcome, of course, but money offers more flexibility and efficiency, particularly with the organization’s collective buying power.

But there are other ways people can lend a hand. One commonly advocated by hunger advocacy groups is simply to be less wasteful with food. The less that ends up in the trash, the more that may be available to others, or at least that’s the theory. This might also be a good year for a little table talk about hunger — about how a lot of households, even many living above the poverty line, struggle to meet their nutritional needs.

Rest assured, this isn’t about Red States or Blue States or about whether you live in the city, the suburbs or more rural parts of the country. Maryland’s circumstances are fairly typical of this nation’s. While the average household income is a bit higher, so is the cost of living. Food insecurity can develop overnight. A job loss, sudden financial hardship, a health crisis or perhaps simply underemployment (you have a job but the pay isn’t adequate). Such disparities are often worse for Black and Hispanic households but, at least in Maryland, underemployed white households are the single largest group of all in total number — with more than 325,000 statewide, according to the United Way.

Perhaps Thursday’s meal might begin not only with a prayer of thanks but one calling for the elimination of hunger (or at least the preservation of SNAP benefits). You never know who might be listening.