Band Aids for Thanksgiving

Earlier this week, I was explaining what would happen on Thanksgiving eve to my daughter. We were going to make a lot of pies using our own and borrowed ovens from the neighbors. It was because it is important to me to help people less fortunate. People without homes to live in or knowledge of where their next meal was coming from.

"Awww...I have a bandaid for them," she said. "I have Bactine for them," she nodded tilting her head to the side.

Bactine and band-aids are what she offers when she wants to give comfort or express sympathy for others' sadness or pain.

One of the things I am grateful for this holiday is that I have what I need to do this for my community. It's a small gesture but it goes far because it leverages what I do best--not writing checks, but making dessert. Best of all, I am able to tag on to the Thanksgiving Day Celebration made possible by the Dimond's Two Star Market- not a non-profit, but a local business that has been giving back to this part of Oakland at Thanksgiving for the past 9 years. 


How can you collaborate with your friends and neighbors to touch people or families in need in your very neighborhood? Poke around, the options are certainly out there through local businesses, churches or non-profits.

More than ever, I'm grateful for the capacity to give. It's not just financial, its spiritual, emotional and I am grateful that my family let me take it on (full-time+ working Mom with a gazillion interests and hobbies).

Photo:  What do you see in my pumpkin pie?
A four-leaf clover
Pumpkin pie crop circles
A cross
A person waving their hands wildly around in circles.