As New Yorkers get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, we should pause to reflect on the fact that for many of our city's families it is getting harder to put nutritious food on the table.

According to a recently released report by the Department of Agriculture, food insecurity remained at the highest level last year since the government began recording the statistic in 1996 – even as the country begins to claw its way out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

That means almost 45 million Americans had trouble affording nutritious food at some time over the course of the year. The number was even higher for Hispanics, with 26.9 percent of Latino households experiencing food insecurity in 2009.

In New York State, the rate of food insecurity increased, rising to an average of 12.4 percent in the 2007-2009 period, from an average of 9.8 percent in years prior.

But not everyone is feeling the pinch equally. While more families slipped into food insecurity, last year New York's 57 billionaires saw their net wealth surge from 183.5 billion to $202.65 billion.

Together, New York City's richest 57 individuals make as much money as 13 million minimum wage workers, according to the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH).

Joel Berg of the Coalition put it best: "Trying to end hunger with another food drive is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon. Certainly we need charitable donations to solve problems around the edges, but that is not the answer to solve a structural problem with our economy."

We urge city, state and the federal government to take a more active role in reducing the poverty that forces people to skimp on one of their most necessary expense – healthy food. To this end, a living wage for workers would be a step towards resolving the shameful problem of food insecurity.