Thanksgiving is a time of family and togetherness. It is difficult for some of us to fathom a holiday without a hot meal and someone to share it with. If I asked you what you did last Thanksgiving, would you remember much about it? Did you go to you parents or grandparents and have a big meal? Did you fall asleep in the living room 30 minutes later? Did you play any board games, play hide and seek, cards, watch football? I have trouble remembering much about Thanksgiving from year to year, but I am sure I will remember this year and last year's Thanksgiving.
Last year my wife, son and I joined several members of our church to serve food to the homeless living in Dallas. It was an experience I will not soon forget. It was difficult, not because I did not want to help, but because when I help someone it is difficult for me to accept the responses I might (and did) receive. I know this is something that God has to work on with me. I need to let the reactions and the comments bounce off of me.
When we got home last year, we were exhausted (and pretty hungry since we had not really eaten all day) and all we wanted to do was clean up and go to sleep. I felt like I made a difference, but it was draining. I hope I was able to bless someone (ok, maybe we did bless the couple we helped move from one area to the other. She was 8-9 months pregnant and they had a lot to carry. We piled it all in my truck and moved them closer to the farmer's market. We tried to get them into a shelter but we were not very successful in doing that.), and my son did actually gave the shirt off his back to a guy who did not have anything warm to wear.
This year my wife wanted to do something closer to home (Downtown Dallas is 25+ miles from us) and she found a husband and wife team that has been feeding locals (mostly Hispanic) for the past few years. Each year the number they feed goes up.
The couple run a car dealership and on Thanksgiving Day, they move cars out of the showroom and set up tables for a Thanksgiving sit down meal. This year the couple had more food, volunteers, and guests than they ever had. Our best guess is that about 400 people were served and we had enough food left over to feed 50-100 more. Towards the end we were giving away WHOLE pies, LOAVES of bread and turkey by the POUND. When it slowed down some, I fixed a plate and sat with one man and chatted for a while. My Spanish is horrible and he spoke decent English, so we were able to converse. He seemed like a nice guy. He works in Denton and has 6 kids here in the US. He has many members of his family in Mexico and some in the US.
Most of the volunteers filtered out a few at a time until at 3 PM. The only ones left were my wife and the couple. We cleaned up a large part of it and headed home. They asked us for our phone number so we gave it to them on the back of one of my business cards. I hope to see them again. They were nice people.
I will remember this Thanksgiving for a long time.
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