Alexandria — The holidays are about giving. They are about children. The holidays are about sharing, about joy, about alleviating suffering for others. The holidays are about being thankful and about faith and appreciation.

Most of us live in neighborhoods that are very homogenous. There are exceptions, but most people reading this live in affluent areas where the houses are mostly in the same price range, and while there might be some ethnic diversity, there is little in the way of economic diversity.

It’s easy to forget that there are massive unmet needs, hungry children, homeless families most with at least one working parent, homeless individuals with jobs and without jobs, people who don’t know for sure whether they will have enough to eat or be able to be warm enough, people who are choosing between medical care and car repair when forgoing the car repair could mean losing a job.

In Alexandria, nearly 8 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. That’s $19,500 for family of three.

In Alexandria Public Schools, 8,100 of the system’s 13,000 students qualify to receive free or subsidized meals, a significant measure of poverty. This is about 60 percent of all students enrolled in the public schools, although some schools have a much higher percentage of poor students. At William Ramsay Elementary School, Patrick Henry, Jefferson-Houston and Cora Kelly, more than 80 percent of students are poor.

Many elementary schools staff are discovering that for some of these students, a majority of students in some schools, they only meals the can count on are breakfast and lunch on school days.

Nonprofits, school staff and individuals have been working to send backpacks of healthy, kid-friendly food home with students on the weekend. For example, the Assistance League of Northern Virginia provides weekend bags of food for 1,200 poor students once a month at six elementary schools around Northern Virginia, including Cora Kelly.

It’s hard to imagine more than 8,000 students going hungry in Alexandria; it’s obvious that children who aren’t sure they will be able to eat when they are hungry are not going to have joyous holidays filled with family meals, gifts and special activities.

There are literally hundreds, probably thousands, of ways to give locally this season. Here are a few ideas. We welcome suggestions for other groups.