'Tis the season for giving and sharing special meals with those you love. For many, the year-end holidays are a time to splurge for the special occasion by eating seafood. This is the time of year that shrimp rings, smoked salmon and other seafood goodies are given center stage in the seafood department of your local supermarket, and restaurant chains give seafood entrées top menu billing. Seafood manufacturers can bank on more than 20 percent of their annual sales in the last quarter thanks to these special seafood-related purchases.

Yet for food bank and feeding center clients, seafood is a rare commodity at any time of year. More than 49 million Americans have limited access to nutrient-dense foods like seafood. And of the 4 billion pounds of food distributed through the Feeding America network, less than 2 percent is nutrient-dense, animal-based protein and seafood makes up only a fraction of that. We at SeaShare are trying to fix that seafood deficit.

I'm on SeaShare's board of directors, which gives me an insider's view to how much work it takes just to get seafood into a food bank. The food bank can't generally accept donations of whole fish, it has to first be processed into a usable size. After processing comes costs associated with cold storage, freight, and distribution — you get the picture. While SeaShare's partners are generous with their product and service donations — especially the Pacific Seafood Processors Association that raised the funds to rebrand our website — the organization relies on financial donations to keep everything running smoothly. Your donation to #ShareTheSea will ensure the supply chain operates without interruption so food bank clients can get the seafood they need for a healthful diet.

With the launch of the Million Seafood Servings Challenge, "Share the Sea," every dollar raised in December provides eight seafood servings to a food bank or feeding center. The campaign is gaining traction, and we could really use your help.

This is the season for helping others and giving back, and I hope you will consider giving the gift of seafood to those in need. I can't think of a better way to help someone in need than giving them a nutrient-rich meal that is brain food instead of a bag of empty calories.