Happy Turkey Day, my dear sweet LilyOnTheLam.com Readers:
I will confess that I actually wrote this blog post the day before Thanksgiving (gasp! no! scandal!) For on Thanksgiving Day, I will be high above you sipping in a cocktail. (On a plane, I'm not actually going to be sitting in your attic like some perverse Turkey-scented, Vodka-swilling Stalker.)
I could take the time to mention all the things I am thankful for - but really? Another seasonally inspired gratitude post? No thank you - maybe I'll write that particular post in March -- make Thanksgiving in your heart every day of the year - not just on some food-stuffed Thursday in November.
Instead I will focus on the GIVE - in Thanksgiving. About 15 minutes from my home is a street with a couple homeless shelters. I believe that many people only think of these homeless people around the holidays, but sadly many are homeless year round - and need help and support year round.
We have a decent amount of panhandlers around Tampa Bay and I, like many people, wonder if these are truly people in need or are the requested coins and dollars being used to fund drug and/or alcohol habits? When I work 50-90 hours a week, the thought of giving my hard-earned money to support someone who is not working and may be using the money to fund getting drunk or high is nauseating.
So instead of giving money, I volunteer at the Salvation Army, Metropolitan Ministries and a local domestic abuse shelter from time to time. I can directly see the efforts of my hard work and know that I am making a difference.
When I lived in Minneapolis, one of my favorite volunteer activities was cooking a meal with friends and family for 80-150 homeless residents and staff of the Simpson House homeless shelter. (Read more about how you can help Simpson Housing Services at their website here.) I remember one time we put on a giant New Orleans-style feast for the residents and staff. Many church groups also served meals in the shelter- lots of canned ham, instant mashed potatoes and canned green beans. So when my friends and family group cooked at the shelter, we made sure we had menus with lots of fresh, flavorful food.
We had made a ton of food for the New Orleans-style feast, but most homeless shelter residents only ate small portions preferring to take some food to go. I was confused wondering why they didn't eat more. One of the homeless shelter residents had whispered to me that when you don't have regular meals, your stomach shrinks and so if the shelter residents ate larger portions they would feel sick. Also, many had dental issues so they could not eat anything hard. I wanted to hit myself in the head with the power of this realization. I couldn't believe I hadn't figured all this out on my own!
It was then that we started adding more portable food - muffins, cookies, biscuits as well as soft whole fruit - bananas and oranges versus hard apples to our dinners. Plus we put out small plastic containers and zip-lock bags for residents to use to take items to go. When I volunteered at the Simpson House, 80% of their residents had at least part-time jobs and many had full-time jobs. I couldn't fathom working full-time and still being homeless. I have had a very fortunate, blessed life. And it's because of this, I feel an even bigger obligation to give back.
I was recently one of the top fundraisers in Tampa Bay for the recent St. Jude Give Thanks Walk. Our team was fourth in overall donations, but the first in donations for non-corporate sponsored teams. A gigantic thank you to all of my wonderful, generous, supporting and loving friends and family who sponsored me in the walk.
I would also like to thank my cat DivaBea who is doing her best to get my attention while I am typing - I can only assume her head-butting and purring is cat-speak for "Don't forget to mention me!" Speaking of cats, there was this black and orange streaked sad looking kitten that was wandering in my neighborhood months ago. I fed him every day for a week and then he disappeared. I prayed that his disappearance was due to someone taking him in versus an early demise.
On Tuesday - many months later, I saw him again - looking healthy, happy and well-fed with a collar on. He came running up, purring and rubbed against my legs. I ran upstairs to get him some cat treats. (My own cats were wondering why I was stealing from their supply and then leaving!) So I am particularly thankful that this cat is still alive and still a sweetheart.
Although I am not in the habit of giving individual donations to people on the street, the day before Thanksgiving I did go around to some of the local homeless I see every day and gave food or money directly to them. Especially those who were sleeping outside in the cold, unable to get a bed in one of the shelters. Sometimes what divides fortunate from unfortunate is just circumstance. I would hope that if I were sleeping on the street, someone would help me from time to time.
After the holidays, I will be volunteering with friends at the local homeless shelter again - because help is needed all year round.
I wish you all a Happy and healthy Thanksgiving and I hope in 2013 you will join me (spiritually speaking, I don't have enough guest space in my home!) in volunteering in your local community - not just at the "popular" holiday times but all year round.
Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S. It wouldn't be a LilyOnTheLam.com blog post if there wasn't a mention of PIE. Because I am a devoted food blogger, I tried both Bob Evans' Pumpkin Supreme Pie and Village Inn's Pumpkin Supreme Pie. Both feature a layer of pumpkin pie with a layer of a pumpkin whipped cream cheese type layer.
Both pies looked scrumptious and were tasty, but I have to say the Bob Evans' version was better in my opinion. I love Village Inn and their pies, but the top layer of the Village Inn pie was very syrupy sweet and took the pie over the top in a way it didn't need to go. The Bob Evans' pie was rich and creamy without being tongue-coating sugary sweet. Sorry Village Inn, this time the prize goes to Bob Evans.
I will confess that I actually wrote this blog post the day before Thanksgiving (gasp! no! scandal!) For on Thanksgiving Day, I will be high above you sipping in a cocktail. (On a plane, I'm not actually going to be sitting in your attic like some perverse Turkey-scented, Vodka-swilling Stalker.)
I could take the time to mention all the things I am thankful for - but really? Another seasonally inspired gratitude post? No thank you - maybe I'll write that particular post in March -- make Thanksgiving in your heart every day of the year - not just on some food-stuffed Thursday in November.
Instead I will focus on the GIVE - in Thanksgiving. About 15 minutes from my home is a street with a couple homeless shelters. I believe that many people only think of these homeless people around the holidays, but sadly many are homeless year round - and need help and support year round.
We have a decent amount of panhandlers around Tampa Bay and I, like many people, wonder if these are truly people in need or are the requested coins and dollars being used to fund drug and/or alcohol habits? When I work 50-90 hours a week, the thought of giving my hard-earned money to support someone who is not working and may be using the money to fund getting drunk or high is nauseating.
So instead of giving money, I volunteer at the Salvation Army, Metropolitan Ministries and a local domestic abuse shelter from time to time. I can directly see the efforts of my hard work and know that I am making a difference.
When I lived in Minneapolis, one of my favorite volunteer activities was cooking a meal with friends and family for 80-150 homeless residents and staff of the Simpson House homeless shelter. (Read more about how you can help Simpson Housing Services at their website here.) I remember one time we put on a giant New Orleans-style feast for the residents and staff. Many church groups also served meals in the shelter- lots of canned ham, instant mashed potatoes and canned green beans. So when my friends and family group cooked at the shelter, we made sure we had menus with lots of fresh, flavorful food.
We had made a ton of food for the New Orleans-style feast, but most homeless shelter residents only ate small portions preferring to take some food to go. I was confused wondering why they didn't eat more. One of the homeless shelter residents had whispered to me that when you don't have regular meals, your stomach shrinks and so if the shelter residents ate larger portions they would feel sick. Also, many had dental issues so they could not eat anything hard. I wanted to hit myself in the head with the power of this realization. I couldn't believe I hadn't figured all this out on my own!
It was then that we started adding more portable food - muffins, cookies, biscuits as well as soft whole fruit - bananas and oranges versus hard apples to our dinners. Plus we put out small plastic containers and zip-lock bags for residents to use to take items to go. When I volunteered at the Simpson House, 80% of their residents had at least part-time jobs and many had full-time jobs. I couldn't fathom working full-time and still being homeless. I have had a very fortunate, blessed life. And it's because of this, I feel an even bigger obligation to give back.
I was recently one of the top fundraisers in Tampa Bay for the recent St. Jude Give Thanks Walk. Our team was fourth in overall donations, but the first in donations for non-corporate sponsored teams. A gigantic thank you to all of my wonderful, generous, supporting and loving friends and family who sponsored me in the walk.
I would also like to thank my cat DivaBea who is doing her best to get my attention while I am typing - I can only assume her head-butting and purring is cat-speak for "Don't forget to mention me!" Speaking of cats, there was this black and orange streaked sad looking kitten that was wandering in my neighborhood months ago. I fed him every day for a week and then he disappeared. I prayed that his disappearance was due to someone taking him in versus an early demise.
On Tuesday - many months later, I saw him again - looking healthy, happy and well-fed with a collar on. He came running up, purring and rubbed against my legs. I ran upstairs to get him some cat treats. (My own cats were wondering why I was stealing from their supply and then leaving!) So I am particularly thankful that this cat is still alive and still a sweetheart.
Although I am not in the habit of giving individual donations to people on the street, the day before Thanksgiving I did go around to some of the local homeless I see every day and gave food or money directly to them. Especially those who were sleeping outside in the cold, unable to get a bed in one of the shelters. Sometimes what divides fortunate from unfortunate is just circumstance. I would hope that if I were sleeping on the street, someone would help me from time to time.
After the holidays, I will be volunteering with friends at the local homeless shelter again - because help is needed all year round.
I wish you all a Happy and healthy Thanksgiving and I hope in 2013 you will join me (spiritually speaking, I don't have enough guest space in my home!) in volunteering in your local community - not just at the "popular" holiday times but all year round.
Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S. It wouldn't be a LilyOnTheLam.com blog post if there wasn't a mention of PIE. Because I am a devoted food blogger, I tried both Bob Evans' Pumpkin Supreme Pie and Village Inn's Pumpkin Supreme Pie. Both feature a layer of pumpkin pie with a layer of a pumpkin whipped cream cheese type layer.
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| Bob Evans' Pumpkin Supreme Pie |
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| Village Inn's Pumpkin Supreme Pie |
A very happy Thanksgiving to you & yours.
ReplyDeleteAnd because you're in the UK, I wish you a Happy Thursday! ;-) Thank you for the Thanksgiving greetings!
ReplyDelete