Topic: Thanksgiving

HOPE exceeds Thanksgiving delivery goal

By David W. Shelton | November 25, 2007 |

This Thursday, the Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education (HOPE) delivered 31 complete thanksgiving dinners, exceeding their goal of 30. Local activists, ministries, and civic groups came together to support HOPE and other organizations that worked to bring meals to area families.

The group’s effort was propelled even more once Kang Tae Myong, owner of Sakura Japanese Restaurant, committed to include it in the list of three organizations that would be given a combined 60 turkeys. The restaurateur announced their donation during a Human Relations Commission meeting held on October 25th. Mr. Kang is also a member of the Clarksville Human Relations Commission as well as an adviser and former president of the Korean American Association.

Twenty of the turkeys were given to HOPE, with the other forty divided between the Salvation Army and Lighthouse Ministries. The turkeys were distributed at a special event at the restaurant on Monday, November 19th. The turkey-dispensing event was coordinated by the Clarksville Human Relations Commission, with City Mayor Johnny Piper on hand to help hand out the birds. «Read the rest of this article»

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Black Friday: Consumed by consumerism

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 19, 2007 |

“Black Friday” has traditionally been the start of the holiday retail season, a ghastly exercise in consumerism that has reached epic proportions, taking the focus off the Thanksgiving holiday and instead thrusting the spear of hefty ads sections to be perused during the Turkey day half-time shows.

All week I have been reading about stores launching pre-Thanksgiving Day sales, and “news” stories of 4 a.m. openings and expected lines of customers, steaming coffee in hand, snaking around buildings in long lines, queued up to vie for the best of the best bargains ASAP.

Sorry, folks. I don’t buy it. Or I should say, I already bought it, back in January, when the end of season sales happened. I shopped heartily and at my leisure, picking up great deals for as much as 80% off the lowest ticket price. I keep a covered bin handy in the back of my closet for such purchases; I find, buy, fold or package carefully and store. Comes in handy for occasional birthdays, “just because” gifts, extras for the grandchildren, and of course, Christmas giving. «Read the rest of this article»

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Hispanic group to provide Thanksgiving dinner to 30 local families

By David W. Shelton | October 27, 2007 |

Clarksville’s local Hispanic organization, Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education (HOPE), is working to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for 30 families that are in need. This year’s goal is up from 10 last year. Rosa Ponce, the group’s secretary, is coordinating the group’s effort. She said that they surpassed last year’s goal and served over 20 families with Thanksgiving dinners. She said that they’re working to feed even more than 30 families and added that there isn’t really any limit to how many families they can support.

For those who wish to nominate a family to be fed by the effort, Ponce said that the organization will consider any family who is struggling and can not afford to buy supplies for their Thanksgiving dinner. “There are a lot of families who are just over the threshhold of the line for food stamps,” she said. “They make just $10 over the limit, so they can’t get assistance. We want to help them too.” «Read the rest of this article»

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The Holiday Season

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 29, 2006 |

Thanksgiving has come and gone, quietly spent with family, the extended kind with children and grandchildren and stepchildren and their children. The dog that saved two of us from the fire that destroyed our home got the huge bone from the ham to gnaw on. Some of these grandchildren were among the brave who charged into stores full of deals for some early holiday shopping in the pre-dawn hours of the day after the feast. They’re braver than me; I would have been the person everyone else was trampling on in what has become an annual stampede at chain stores and malls across America. That’s not for me.

I hibernate after Thanksgiving, and I plan. I even start writing my Christmas cards, which I usually buy in July. Actually, I bought mine in July but they are crisply burnt now. «Read the rest of this article»

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Happy Thanksgiving

By Bill Larson | November 23, 2006 |

It’s the yearly day of thanks. Not that I don’t give my personal thanks every day of the year, but on this special day we do it as a nation. We gather with family and friends and feast on turkey and other delicacies. There are always those who are unable to gather with their loved ones as much as they would like to be there. We should take a moment out of our day and remember them, pray for all of them all.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3346422489703378056

This is a classic butterball turkey commercial from way back in 1959, just a bit of turkey history to share with you all today.

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