This is the season of giving and spending. Frenzied shoppers and busy retailers this week are a testament to this.

Amid the hustle and bustle, the smiling faces in advertisements and the bounty so many area residents are blessed with, it can be easy to lose sight of the homeless, hungry and needy in our community.

We should not be blind to them. We should help them in every way we can. While many are purchasing expensive gifts for family and loved ones this year, consider a donation to a favorite charity that helps to look after the less fortunate in our community. Stephen Gibbs, president and chief executive officer of Cincinnati FreeStore/FoodBank Thursday on the editorial page revealed some startling facts about the needy in our community that should give us all pause.

His organization helps provide food for the needy. This year, Gibbs said the food bank has come close to running out of food. In July, he said he began to notice his organization was seeing 20 percent more clients that the previous year. During Thanksgiving, similar numbers held true. Amazingly, between April 1 and Sept. 30 workers at Ohio's 12 food banks reported a 42 percent increase in the number of people they serve.

Dozens of other charitable organizations in greater Cincinnati can probably share similar stories, including the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and others.

In recent weeks, the Enquirer has chronicled the stories of many of those in need identified through the our annual Wish List campaign. Since 1986, donors have contributed more than $2.4 million to the campaign, which is administered through the United Way.

Sometimes needs involve quality-of-life issues that many of take for granted: a new telephone with large-print numbers amplifiers for an older couple, a hearing aid for a teenager, a fresh coat of paint for the home of an impoverished man or - in the most basic level, as Gibbs notes everyday - food for sustenance.

Greater Cincinnati is blessed with great wealth as well as mind-numbing poverty. In this giving season, it's important not to forget the least among us.