The people who live in the south suburbs; those who calmly mingle race and religion without much distress, those who live in posh homes just miles from some of the poorest areas in the state, and all those who hope for a better day and fight for a better way never cease to amaze.

Last Sunday night at the Emmaus Community in Olympia Fields, more than 300 people attended the 51st annual south suburban Community Thanksgiving Gathering as an assembly of churches, mosques and temples linked voices in a spirit of oneness among all people.

In these times, such a sentiment spoken by eight area ministers, reverends, imams and rabbis, and later rousingly sung by the 72-voice Viking Choir from Homewood-Flossmoor High School, would, considering the events of the day, be looked upon by some as a waste of time and breath. But there may be an invisible yet unbroken connection between a feeling of togetherness Sunday and the passing of potatoes this Thursday.

“We need each other,’ said Rabbi Gidon Isaacs of Temple Beit Shalom in Munster, Indiana. His sentiments were echoed by Imam Elam Muhammad of Hazel Crest’s The Mosque Cares, in what was called in the program a “Call to Thanksgiving from the Abrahamic faiths.”

The shortest talk and perhaps the most important was spoken by Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson, who urged all to donate to Respond Now, which works to ease hunger and homelessness for people at risk

The trouble is that when we enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, few think of those who do with less and in too many cases do without.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the first time in the last 10 years food banks throughout the country are trying to feed more people with fewer resources. The result is what is called “food insecurity issues” which affect more families this year.

The report said more than 44 million people lived in households that had problems getting enough food to feed everyone. The numbers, it was stated, were up more than 10 million from the previous year.

The domino effect exerts its force here. Everything costs more and that puts pressure on food banks with limited resources, which means there is less food available, ending in more people having less to eat. It’s not enough to just wish others well this season, the dollars are the fuel that powers the ship of help.

Our house is not different from others, but we talked about the invisible chair and plate at the table.

The turkey was always almost perfect. The side dishes brought by others were always impressive. The dessert always called for second helpings. The warmth of the company we keep, shared with family and our friends, almost made one hope all things will be better, all things will end well, all things will improve and that almost nothing is beyond our will to achieve.

Because some of our guests are vegans and others merely vegetarians, we tended to pile heaping mounds of vegetables and potatoes on everyone’s plate. The Thanksgiving table where we sit often has two kinds of pies, a couple of bottles of wine and some snacks to nibble on before we sit down to dinner

We often said our Thanksgiving was never complete. We said there is always one person missing from our overburdened table, which, on this special day, is teeming with its seasonal feast of food and good cheer.

For years we had this plan in our home. After the holiday, we estimated the cost for all the food, even adding a probable amount for heat and light. We then divided it by the number of guests and came up with the amount to donate to a nearby food pantry.

It probably was not enough.

That is why the missing dinner guest who cannot come to the table is the most important person and those are reasons why the invisible plate must be remembered.

Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.

jerryshnay@gmail.com