A middle school teacher recently told me that many of her students were actually not excited for the holiday break from school. They didn’t all give reasons, but many, she knows, were worried about missing the daily breakfasts and lunches. For a variety of reasons, many children — and adults — live with the worry about what they will be eating on any given day.

Utah Valley residents are generous. Hundreds of families and individuals were helped during the holidays through United Way’s Sub for Santa program, Tabitha’s Way Local Food Pantry’s annual Christmas dinner giveaways, the Utah State Hospital’s Forgotten Patient program, and many church, school, business, organizational and private programs. Many people were recipients of the Christmas spirit.

With the ending of the holiday season each year comes a sharp decrease in donations, especially to food banks and pantries. One important way that people helped others during the past couple of months was making sure they had enough food to eat. Now, we can work to ensure this help continues.

Even though donations decrease after the holidays, the needs of those who are hungry or are otherwise in need are still there. It’s important to remember that food insecurity and financial struggles occur throughout the year.

According to the Utah Food Bank, 415,000 Utahns are at risk of missing a meal today. That is 1 in 8 Utahns. One in six Utah children are unsure of where their next meal is coming from. Those of us who work with children know this all too well. Like my teacher friend said, there are many children whose only full nutritious meals are eaten at school.

Here are a few tips gathered from local food pantries and banks that we can keep in mind as we donate to help the needy in our communities.

Consider donating some fresh fruits and vegetables. They’re not as readily available during the winter months, but as we are shopping for our own families, we can pick up some extra fresh produce items to donate. These are hard to come by for people in need when finances are scarce.

Cash donations can help food pantries and banks to be able to feed the hundreds of people they assist every month. Pantry employees know what is needed more than we do, and with the cash donations, they can purchase what they need as well as pay for costs to keep the pantries and banks running.

Donate ingredients rather than ready-to-eat items. While boxed and canned foods are great for meals, people also need items for cooking and baking. Families in need often cannot afford to keep a pantry stocked with items that many of us always seem to have on hand such as salad dressing, salt, pepper, sugar, flour, olive oil, cooking spray, baking soda, vanilla and other flavorings and spices.

Other much-needed items at local food pantries during this time of year include condiments, baked goods, crackers, cookies, nuts, dried fruit and other healthy foods.

Keep in mind that food recipients range in age from infants to the elderly when deciding which foods to donate. A variety of foods can help people eat nutritiously and enjoy what they are eating.