Higher costs for basic needs continue to make life difficult for many Americans – so does the end of many pandemic-era programs that helped people access health care, put food on the table, afford child care, and so much more. Wars rage in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and elsewhere. It seems as if more refugees are displaced every day, and sometimes it feels like climate change might make refugees of us all. And yet: there are things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are ten things that come to mind to those of us at CHN: 

The giving thanks edition. This week, Americans will gather with their family and friends in a spirit of camaraderie and companionship – and hopefully, some really good food! Many of you may have things for which you are thankful. A roof over your head. Food on the table. The ability to meet household expenses. Time away from work to be with your loved ones. But millions of Americans don’t have that minimal security.

Thanksgiving will not be a time of plenty in millions of American households with children this year. The number of people with children who reported that in the previous week their households sometimes or often did not have enough to eat rose by 2 million, from 11.2 million to 13.2 million over the past year.  In survey periods covering September 20 – October 30 of 2023, close to 16 percent of people with children said they did not have enough food, up from nearly 14 percent who responded during the periods covering October 5 through November 14, 2022.   

After her husband passed from Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2019, Kim Guess suddenly became a single mom who needed to support her family. The Kalamazoo, Michigan resident launched a dance group fitness studio named Guess Who’s Dancing. Later, she became the part-owner of downtown Kalamazoo’s first Black-owned event venue space, the Xperience. But there is a problem. The roads surrounding her business are among the city’s top 25 most dangerous roads. They are all one-way, unsafe for pedestrians, dangerous at night due to a lack of streetlights, and difficult for her customers to navigate their way to Kim’s business.