Think food banks on Boxing Day

Our Canadian neighbors and their cousins in the British Commonwealth observe a holiday today with ancient roots and traditions. The spirit is ripe to be adopted and embraced here at home.

Boxing Day is not about heavyweights and counterpunching or disposing of containers after Christmas. Instead, the day evolved as a way for servants to be thanked — essentially tipped — by their employers: a box of gifts and a few coins presented to the household staff by the lord of the manor, or by employers to the Bob Cratchets of the business world. Boxes also appeared to collect food and sundry items for the needy.

Those needs — and an instinct to help — will always be with us.

In that spirit, Boxing Day is a good time to make a contribution to area food banks. The Associated Press reports that unseasonal demand brought on by a natural disasters and communities struggling economically have decimated supplies.

This is usually the time when holiday generosity and giving stock shelves with enough canned goods and other supplies to last into late spring. Not so in late 2007. Demand has outstripped resources. The Thurston County Food Bank reported requests for help were up 30 percent this year.

Food banks in other cities — including Seattle and Portland — are taking up the immediate slack, but that creates a problem for inventories later in the year.

Let us borrow from our neighbor to the north this Boxing Day to be mindful of the local need. The hunger is real. Put a box out at work to gather donations. Notice those containers at the grocery store and houses of worship. Fill them.

A can of tuna or a jar of peanut butter can work wonders. Happy Boxing Day.