Thanksgiving=Legal holiday for people to be thankful for what they have.
At least that's what the Merriam Webster Dictionary says.
Thanksgiving is the time to be with family and friends, food and more food, and remember what you're grateful for. It also brings Black Friday, the official start of the holiday season, and an influx of exciting new things.
Have we ever really paused, though, to think about those that don't get all of the traditional parts of Thanksgiving? According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 564,708 people in America were homeless on any given night. Their Thanksgiving looks very different from ours.
Luckily, there is something you can do about it.
1. Take the time to visit your local food shelter and take some shifts.
2. Go work in a Harvesters nearby and help package food for the less fortunate.
3. Try out One Homeless Night.
4. Volunteer at your parish, there are always opportunities around the holiday season there.
5. Start a canned food drive in your neighborhood or contribute to one.
6. Go through your old clothes and donate. This time of year is when donation centers really need all they can take.
7. Carry around a gift card with a small balance for some food place, like Subway, and the next time you see a homeless person, give it to them.
8. Pretend as if a homeless shelter of your choice counts as one of your friends that you're getting a holiday present for. Take the money you would spend on a friend and donate it to the worthy cause.
9. Educate yourself and others on what homelessness looks like and encourage those around you to get involved as well.
10. If none of these sound great, try VolunteerMatch.org. You can find projects near you that are fine tuned to what kind of volunteer work you like.
Even if you only do one of the things on this list, you are yet another person working towards eradicating homelessness.
Be extra thankful for what you have this Thanksgiving, but don't forget about those that need an extra hand.
