Zorba Paster: Make This Thanksgiving A Time To Give Back

I love Thanksgiving. Thinking about the time I’ll spend with my family, planning the meal – the sounds, the smells, the good vibes and even the relatives I don’t always agree with – it’s a time of tradition.

It’s also a wonderful time because I write my Thanksgiving column and sit down at my typewriter – just kidding, I am not a speller, so having spell check changed my life – to compose my thoughts.

So let’s start with giving.

We could all give more than we have. All of us. It may be a smile, a thank you card, a telephone call. It may mean helping that neighbor down the street that isn’t as well as they could be. It may mean writing a check to support the causes you’re passionate about. Americans give an enormous amount to charity, more than $300 billion a year. I reckon that makes us one of the world’s most generous nations.

But what jumps out to me now is food scarcity. Most of us are going to a feast where we eat way too much. What about those who don’t have much? It’s not a pretty picture.

There are bags, about $10 each, at our grocery store in Oregon stocked with items our local food pantry needs. Putting one of those in my cart when I shop gives me a good feeling. I feel like by giving $10, I’m helping a family eat.

With the problems we face today and have always faced, a $10 food donation may seem like a drop in a bucket. But for the family receiving that package it’s not a drop, it’s a meal.

If you want to help more, then look at the HungerCare Coalition, a program of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. Their mission is simple – to end hunger through community partnerships. Easy to say, harder to do. But they’re taking a crack at it and succeeding.

A while ago, HungerCare’s leaders came to my medical group to talk about this problem. I was taught about the signs and symptoms of all sorts of diseases, but no one ever schooled me on how to search for hunger, for food shortages. Which do you think is more common, syphilis or hunger? You can guess the answer.

The risk of hunger is present in any age group, but the younger and the older can be hit the hardest. HungerCare told us we can screen for hunger with two simple questions:

1. Within the last year, were you ever worried you would run out of food before you received money to buy more?
2. Within the last year, did the food you bought not last until you received money to buy more?

Before you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner, celebrate the successes of the year, think about those who aren’t around and count your blessings. Before you dig into that turkey and eat more than you should, why not think about your community? Make a plan to help and do it.

I am a very hopeful person. I am Mr. Optimist. But as my good friend Judy told me, “Hope is not a plan.” Dig in and help hunger here and now.