At the Houston Food Bank, the shelves are stocked and donations are up this year over last. That's the good news. The other side is that demand exceeds supplies.
Houston Food Bank President Brian Greene said, "Half of the households that we're supplying now are actually working households. They just can't get a job with enough hours or enough wage per hour in order to make ends meet."
For the food bank, Thanksgiving is one day out of 365 a year in which volunteers and donors do their best to fight hunger. But Thanksgiving carries with it a tradition of turkey with all the trimmings. This year at West Houston Assistance Ministries, there was a miracle.
"We definitely believe in prayer and people answered our prayer," Cytinya Bowers with West Houston Assistance Ministries.
The agency, which is also a client of the Houston Food Bank, put out a call for turkeys and enough food to feed their clients. And just in time for Thanksgiving...
"Everybody has listened to our call and it's been a blessing, an overwhelming blessing," Bowers said.
Clients are getting a turkey, plus their regular groceries -- staple items to get them through a few days or a week. It's food, but it's also a lifeline. Robert Small is hearing impaired and unemployed. His interpreter is Cynthia Horde.
She told Eyewitness News, "He doesn't get enough from SSI or his retirement, so he comes here to supplement his food."
This holiday, though, he'll celebrate, thankful for a good meal he'll cook himself, thankful for the generosity of strangers who give.
The concern now is for the Christmas holidays and beyond. Food and hunger are an ongoing concern, so the Houston Food Bank and food pantries urge you to keep on giving.
