DU Thanksgiving Day thread

[IndianaGreen]

We got plenty of threads about all kinds of bad news. Post here your story about what happened in your community on Thanksgiving.

Hoosiers give back on Thanksgiving

Rich Van Wyk/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - The economy is down. Unemployment is up. More families have less to be thankful for this holiday. In the face of much greater needs, the community responded with greater deeds, providing Thanksgiving dinner and relief to tens of thousands of people.

There are few days so many people work so hard for so long and create so many smiles.

"This is the best way to spend Thanksgiving," said Erica Kohering as she filled take-out boxes full of turkey. "I start every Thanksgiving off here. It lifts my spirits to be able to help people."

People like the Montejanos were enjoying a free meal together. Gabriel and his wife have three children and no full time job. "It's tough right now," he said.

The annual Mozel Sanders dinner planned for 37,000 hungry people, about ten percent more than last year. To pay for everything - 18 tons of turkey, stuffing, green beans and dessert - the community donated $70,000.

"When we put the call for need, the community comes to the aid," said Cullen Simpson, head chef.

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=9424265

[Jokerman]

1. K & R

Happy Thanksgiving from an Indiana comrade!

[IndianaGreen]

3. Thank you, jokerman

Happy Turkey Day to you and Speedway Democrat.

:-)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. My neighbors and I got together

and shared good food and good times at the home of the VVAW regional rep. There was a WWII veteran and a couple of Viet Nam War vets there, as well as others. We talked about the need for self-reliance and also community in the time to come. Everyone there was happy Obama had won (as you would expect), and everyone enjoyed the organically raised turkey and garden grown green beans and pumpkin dishes.

[IndianaGreen]

4. That's great!

Thank you for sharing, ayeshahaqqiqa.

[marmar]

5. Detroit Free Press: Chef readies more than 6,000 meals

Chef readies more than 6,000 meals
Salvation Army food service director works to help area's homeless
BY JOE ROSSITER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • November 27, 2008


For Gary Van Wicklin, preparing breakfast and dinner for an army of hungry people on Thanksgiving Day can resemble an episode from the Food Network's "Dinner: Impossible."

With more than 6,000 meals to prepare -- split between a hearty breakfast and a full Thanksgiving meal -- the food service director for the Salvation Army of Metro Detroit and his 15-member staff have no time to watch parades or football.

"It gets pretty crazy at times, but it's nothing we can't handle," said Van Wicklin, 50, who has been working 14-hour days since Saturday in the kitchen of the Salvation Army Harbor Light System in Detroit.

But standing amid blazing ovens and boiling pots in preparation for today's meals, Van Wicklin admits that "right around this time is when I start wondering if I ordered enough of this and enough of that."

There is certainly a gargantuan grocery list for a feast of this size: 1,200 pounds of turkey, 400 pounds of corn, 275 cans of cranberry sauce, 50 gallons of mashed potatoes and stuffing and 210 sweet potato pies.

And that's just for dinner. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20081127/NEWS01/811270360/1001

[IndianaGreen]

6. and they did breakfast too!

All of the money used to pay for the meals is raised through the Salvation Army's annual Red Kettle campaign.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081127/NEWS01/811270360/1001

Thank you for posting this story, marmar. There are great needs out there, and there are people in far worse shape than most of us.

[EFerrari]

7. San Francisco Chronicle: Alcatraz Thanksgiving, perfect start to the day

C. Nevius



(11-26) 17:48 PST -- Many people have Thanksgiving traditions, like special turkey dressing or a secret cranberry recipe.
Morning Star Gali, a member of the Pit River Indian Tribe and a student at Mills College, celebrates Thanksgiving by starting her morning on Alcatraz Island, offering a prayer as dawn breaks.

She won't be alone. Organizers of the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering expect between 2,500 and 3,000 participants for the Thanksgiving Day observance today. The annual celebration, now in its 34th year, is organized by the International Indian Treaty Council and is a mixture of many ideas and philosophies.

It is deeply spiritual, utterly unconventional, and more than a little radical.

Is this the perfect San Francisco event or what?

Needless to say, given our country's history, many Indian tribes have a different view of how the Thanksgiving holiday has played out over the years. Many of them scoff at the feel-good story of how the Pilgrims and the helpful Indians sat down together in the Plymouth colony for a feast of celebration for a successful harvest in 1621. The legend is that meal became known as the first Thanksgiving.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/27/BAM814CTMB.DTL

[IndianaGreen]

8. Good article.

I forgot about the annual Alcatraz gathering, and they are right, surplus federal lands are supposed to revert back to Native Americans. Regardless of mythology of this holiday (Christmas and Chanukah stories are also mythological), this is one holiday in which families get together to just be thankful they are able to celebrate life together. After all, Thanksgiving is not Columbus Day!

My favorite scene about Thanksgiving is in the film Addams Family Values:

(as an Indian, ad-libbing during a Thanksgiving play)

Wednesday: Wait!

Amanda: What?
Wednesday: We cannot break bread with you.

Amanda: Huh? Becky, what's going on?

Becky: Wednesday!

Wednesday: You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans, and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the road sides, you will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d'oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, "Do not trust the Pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller."

Amanda: Gary, she's changing the words.

Wednesday: And for all these reasons I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106220/quotes

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. from your link:

.
.
.

(the dancer in the cake doesn't pop out)

Gomez: That poor girl. Lurch, was she in there before you baked?

(Lurch hangs his head) . . . .

[Swamp Rat]

10. Happy Thanksgiving

:hi:

[IndianaGreen]

11. Precious!

Thanks!