(Newsweek) — While the holidays are meant to be a time to gather with loved ones, which often involves sharing a meal, many active-duty service members and veterans will struggle to put food on the table this season.

Ahead of Thanksgiving, Newsweek spoke with Jim Whaley—who served two decades in the U.S. Army and now is the CEO of Mission Roll Call, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for veterans’ issues—about food insecurity prevalent not only among veterans but those still serving our country.

“It actually hurts my heart to think about a young family overseas or even here in the United States on active duty that can’t figure out how on Thanksgiving they’re going to have a turkey,” Whaley told Newsweek over the phone on November 19.

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) said that roughly 24 percent of active-duty service members experienced food insecurity at some point in 2020. Meanwhile, according to Feeding America, a U.S. hunger relief nonprofit, 1 in 9 working-age veterans are food insecure.

“It is an embarrassment to our country when we have 24 percent of active duty struggling to pay for food,” Whaley said.

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