Thanksgiving is a week away, but the signs of the holiday season are all around us.

Plans are being made for Thanksgiving feasts. Christmas trees glitter in stores.

Many of us are already beginning to worry about holiday excess and our waistlines.

But for far too many in Hawai'i, the holidays do not mean blessings or feasts, but only emphasize what the needy do not have.

The Hawaii Foodbank knows that all too well. More than 130,000 people, 33,000 of them children and 14,000 kupuna, need the food bank's services each year.

And that need, sadly, is growing, according to Polly Kauahi, director of development at Hawaii Foodbank. She says member agencies, including food pantries and food banks on other islands, report people are coming in for assistance earlier in the month because higher food, gasoline and housing costs have put a bigger squeeze on budgets.

As we move into the holiday season, it is a time not only to be thankful for what we have but a time to share with those who have little.

As you prepare for the upcoming holidays, add a volunteer project, food donation or monetary contribution to your list of things to do. Or better yet, resolve to make helping others a yearlong commitment for 2008. That will make this holiday season bountiful indeed.