Thanksgiving: We need you!

At Hope House Montgomery, we thought of ways to help a few of our neighbors during this holiday, where families hope to share life, food, and appreciation. We received some funding to put together a few food bags. We could purchase some of the favorites for a thanksgiving meal, such as stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, corn, fruit, freshly baked cookies, and a gift card for other wants or needs. One would think fifty dollars per bag would be more than enough, but it seemed small once we got it all in. Everything is costly, even in bulk. 

Baking a few dozen cookies and packaging them with only four cookies per baggie also looked skimpy. I questioned whether someone might even eat them, given they weren’t store-bought. But Kiara and Dessy affirmed that homemade cookies were a good idea. I appreciate them helping me overcome my fears. So, into the large bags went all the food items. Kiara created a card, and we used both English and Spanish because we wanted our diverse neighborhood to know we recognize the beauty of diversity.

Selecting just a few recipients was tough, but having walked the neighborhood, we remembered many houses where families with children lived. So, today, Sunday morning, before church, we drove to the homes we had selected and put the bag full of groceries on the front porch or back porch, where we thought they would likely come upon the package. We hope it is helpful in some way. 

Dessy is going home for a few days to spend time with her family. Kiara has to work but will spend time with her family on Thursday. I will cook on Thursday for mom and me. She wants turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn casserole, gravy, and pumpkin pie. She is ninety and won’t eat much, but I will cook anyway.  

I work full-time and will get off Wednesday through Friday. I hope to finish a few home projects, and Kiara wants me to help her bake a cookie and cream cake like the one I made for her birthday. I will enjoy that. Very nice to have some time off.  

Praying for all to have some family, friends, or kind strangers in our midst and to be grateful for the gift of life we have, even amid the challenges and hurts life gives us. 

Happy Thanksgiving!