Giving Day

Every Thanksgiving families around the United States gather around tables and living rooms to share in a tradition of food, family and gratitude.

Many are thankful for their families, friends, good health and materialistic things.  For others not so fortunate, they are thankful for the simpler physiological needs: food, shelter and warmth.

I thankful for having a warm meal to eat every night and enough clothes to keep me warm.

Every night hundreds of thousands of those who are less fortunate huddle in allies, doorways and shelters protecting themselves from the encroaching cold of winter and are thankful for an extra blanket, a warm cup of coffee and a few scraps of food.

Luckily for many there are places to turn to for help.

Families who have fallen on hard times wait in long lines at local food banks in hopes of receiving the bare necessities to enjoy a full Thanksgiving meal. 

On Thanksgiving Day thousands of runners will take to the streets in the 17th Annual Run to Feed the Hungry.  A 3K and 5 K foot-race winding through the streets of Sacramento and benefiting the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.


Families Share Holiday Meals at Loaves & Fishes



Sacramento Loaves & Fishes feeds over 300 hungry families and homeless with donated provisions everyday, and are expecting to feed triple that for the Thanksgiving holiday meal.

The only requests on the Loaves & Fishes’ wish list this holiday season are 300 turkeys, 400 pies, 200 cans of Yams and 100 gallons of apple juice.


Volunteers at Loaves & Fishes



Other donations needed not just for the holiday season, but for the winter season are simple things like warm coats, gloves, sleeping bags, blankets, tarps, toilet paper, toothpaste, socks and hats.

I am thankful for having a roof over my head.

As the economy continues its downward climb, more and more families are finding themselves on the streets and homeless for the first time; as budget cuts become the norm to balance deficits, more local shelters are losing funding to keep their doors open.

Last year Sacramento County had 304 beds to shelter the homeless at Cal Expo, at the start of winter this year, due to budget cuts, the county had 0 beds.  In October the county Board of Supervisors voted to reinstall 50 beds for winter shelter, only a small fraction of what is needed to house the estimated 1000 homeless in Sacramento.

Many local churches are picking up the pieces and offering shelter for those in need.  Unfortunately it is not enough and still many are left to shiver in the frigid night air.

As the temperatures continue to drop and the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaches, please remember to not just list your Xbox and new car as what you’re thankful for, but include the simple things that many of us take for granted.

I am thankful for:

1. Having a warm meal to eat every night

2. Having enough clothes to keep me warm

3. Having shoes on my feet

4. Having a roof over my head

5. Having warm water to shower

6. Being in good health

7. Having a steady income

8. Having family who loves me

9. Having all four of my Grandparents alive and well

10. Living in the United States

Please help those in need and give a little this holiday season.  Making a new family tradition of Giving Day.

Giving can be done in the forms of: volunteering at your local shelter, cleaning out your closets and storage to donate unused warm clothes, blankets and sleeping bags, or by purchasing and donating new items for the "Homeless Christmas Stockings" such as razors, gloves, socks and various hygiene items.

"Tent City" Homeless Encampment in Sacramento