Six story ideas for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 14th, 2005

Home alone for the holidays

At Thanksgiving, volunteers flock to soup kitchens and donate sacks of food for the hungry and homeless. But also lost in the shuffle are Americans who are alone on the holiday. They may be young singles who couldn’t travel to their families, people who are divorced, singles who haven’t developed a social network after a recent move, or older folks without family nearby. The number of single-person households grew by 21 percent in the 1990s – to 26 percent of all households. In 1950, only 9 percent of Americans were living alone. In response, more religious groups are reaching out by offering special get-togethers or having members drop by. They’re also beginning to redefine singleness as an acceptable state of life instead of a transition before marriage. What are groups in your area doing to keep those alone on Thanksgiving from feeling lonely?
• Unmarried America, an information service for America’s 87 million single people, posts statistics and articles on being single, including topics on spirituality.
• The web site for National Unmarried and Single Americans (USA) Week lists facts about singles.
• See a Sept. 2, 2005, USA Today story about new Census figures that show more Americans are living alone.
• See a special U.S. Census report on statistics about singles.
• Assemblies of God USA offers a list of ideas on reaching out to those alone on Thanksgiving.
• Young Adult and Single Adult Ministries of the United Methodist Church provides a list of suggestions to help those alone on Thanksgiving.
• The Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago encourages synagogue members to spend time with those who will be alone on the holiday.

Enough food for all

This Thanksgiving, many tables will be piled high with food and refrigerators will be stuffed with leftovers. At the same time, millions of Americans don’t have enough to eat. Thanksgiving stories often feature meals provided for the hungry and homeless, but there is a growing push to end hunger in America through political solutions. Much of the motivation comes from faith. Studies show that requests for emergency food assistance – one of the most common forms of outreach for religious organizations – are steadily rising. Advocates for the hungry are pushing to create political momentum to end hunger instead of simply providing weekly meals or turkeys on Thanksgiving. They argue that hunger is a solvable problem if the political will exists to get food to the people who need it. How are people in your area asking local, state and national governments to help end hunger in America?
• Bob Dole and George McGovern have just released a new book, along with theologian Donald Messer, called Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2005).
• Grass-roots groups such as Results, Bread for the World and Partners in Ending Hunger are mobilizing efforts to end hunger.
• College students are getting involved. At Southern Illinois University, for example, students were divided into hypothetical classes of rich, middle-class and poor groups at an October event acknowledging World Hunger Awareness Month, with the poor getting rice and beans and the rich a three-course meal.
• Faith communities and congregations are creating networks of people to lobby political leaders on issues such as support for food stamp and school lunch programs. Read an Oct. 20, 2005, Religion News Service story posted by Bread for the World.
• Read a recently released U.S. Department of Agriculture report, which found that 11.9 percent of the nation’s households did not have enough food for at least some time in 2004.
• Read the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 27-city survey on hunger and homelessness in 2004.

Focus on Native Americans

Thanksgiving always brings recollections of the role of Native Americans in the first celebrations of the holiday. While researchers have tried to correct cliché images of American Indians in history, contemporary Native Americans still say their spiritual practices and lifestyles are often misunderstood. Some are invited to churches for Thanksgiving observances but decline. Some work at retreat centers sharing their spiritual practices, while others think such workshops denigrate their traditions. November is American Indian Heritage Month in addition to the month of Thanksgiving – a good time to explore current issues involving Native Americans.
• See Nov. 30, 2004, ReligionLink tip for an extensive list of national and regional interview sources on Native American issues.

A retreat from the classic Thanksgiving

At the classic American Thanksgiving, loved ones gather at home to celebrate their connectedness and feast on delectable foods that the cooks have slaved over. But several religious organizations offer Thanksgiving retreats where individuals, families and other groups can escape the chores of cleaning, cooking and hosting, and relax together while enjoying food, community and a spiritual atmosphere, often in beautiful settings. Here is a sampler of Thanksgiving weekend retreats:
• Episcopal conference centers offering such events include Saint Christopher (843-768-0429) on Seabrook Island, S.C., and Kanuga (828-692-9136) in the mountains of western North Carolina.
• The interdenominational Christian Renewal Center (503-873-6743) in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon has an annual weekend retreat that features holiday dinner, inspirational speakers and children’s activities.
• The Padmasambhava Buddhist Center, which has several locations in the United States and other countries, has a Thanksgiving retreat scheduled at Padma Samye Ling Retreat Center (607-865-8068) in Sidney Center, N.Y.
• For Jewish singles looking for a match within their religion, Basherte Workshop (basherte@aol.com) will host a Thanksgiving retreat at Elat Chayyim, a spiritual retreat center in the Catskill Mountains in Accord, N.Y.
• Rabbi Goldie Milgram, founder and executive director of Reclaiming Judaism, will speak at a Thanksgiving Spiritual Health Retreat at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. Contact rebgoldiem@aol.com.
• The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies (800-944-1001) has a Gratitude & Bounty workshop planned for The Crossings in Austin, Texas.

Hurricanes redefine ‘family’

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita displaced thousands of people, and survivors have landed in every state in the country. Experts say the strength of social networks can be a prime indicator of how well people adjust to new circumstances. Were they able to connect to a network of extended family, friends or fellow members of a church, synagogue, mosque or other religious organization? What sort of “families” will hurricane victims spend their Thanksgivings with? How are religious organizations sharing a holiday about feasts with those who have experienced a famine in the upset of a hurricane?
• The Social Science Research Council created a web page with articles about Hurricane Katrina. One essay discusses how social networks help survivors relocate and rebuild their lives.
• The National Middle School Association posts links to articles on how to help displaced youth heal emotionally and adjust to new surroundings.

Thanks to gratitude research….

From a child’s simple prayer to exclamations of “Thanks a lot!” the business of being grateful seems like straightforward stuff. Yet in recent years, research and therapy has increasingly targeted gratitude and other positive emotions. The findings? People who are grateful experience less stress and depression and are less materialistic and more spiritually connected. A sense of gratitude also has been found to speed healing for people who have experienced loss or trauma. This Thanksgiving, consider writing about the concrete ways people practice gratefulness the other 364 days a year and how they benefit.
• Read Gregg Easterbrook’s Beliefnet column on gratitude research.
• Read an Aug. 9, 2005, Science & Theology News story about gratitude research.
• Read a Nov. 8, 2004, WebMD story about the health benefits of gratitude.
• Read the web sites of two professors whose focus is gratitude research: Michael E. McCullough, associate professor of psychology and religious studies at the University of Miami and Department of Psychology, and Robert Emmons, psychology professor at the University of California, Davis.