Next week，as millions of families gather for their Thanksgiving feasts，many other Americans will go without．According to the United States Department of Agriculture，more than 12million households lack enough food for everyone in their family at some time during the year---including holidays．

Hunger is surprisingly widespread in our country---one of the world's wealthiest---yet the government estimates that we waste almost 100billion pounds of food each year，more than one-quarter of our total supply．

Reducing this improper distribution of resources is a goal of America's Second Harvest，the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization．Last year，it distributed nearly 2billion pounds of food to more than 23million people in need．

America's Second Harvest is a network of 214inter-connected food banks and other organizations that gather food from growers，processors，grocery stores and restaurants．In turn，the network distributes food to some 50，000soup kitchens，homeless shelters and old people's centers in every county of every state．

A great deal of work is involved in distributing tons of food from thousands of donors to thousands of small，nonprofit organizations．Until a few years ago，America's Second Harvest lacked any effective way to manage their inventory （ 存货 ）．Without accurate and timely information，soup kitchens were sometimes empty while food was left to spoil in loading places．

In 2000，America's Second Harvest began to use a new inventory and financial-management system---Ceres．It is software designed specifically for hunger-relief operations．It is used by more than 100America's Second Harvest organizations to track food from donation to distribution．

Ceres has helped reduce the spoiling of food and improve distribution．An evaluation found that the software streamlined（ 提高效率 ） food banks'operations by 23percent in the first year alone．

With more accurate and timely reports，Ceres saves tim