It seems that Thanksgiving is not just turkey anymore. Just take a look at some of these suggestions, they sound wonderful.

http://food.yahoo.com/blog/editorspi...or-every-taste

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

Wow Rev. Kelly that is quite a selection to pick from. I might try some of these for Christmas. This Thanksgiving my kitchen stays clean, we are invited!

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May your awareness be perfection

That is always the best kind of meal. I hope you have a great time.

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

... when I was working at a school that served a fair population of "street kids", someone asked me about Thanksgiving, and this is what I told them:

A recipe for Thanksgiving.

1) Sleep all night in your clothes, in a room with 50 or 60 strangers, many with psychiatric problems, many with substance abuse problems, and many with violent urges.

2) Wake at 6:00 a.m. and immediately go out to the street.

3) Head down to the business district, hoping to panhandle enough to get a breakfast sandwich. When you get there, discover it is a public holiday, and that you will have to skip breakfast that day

4) Head over to a Church, and when the congregation leaves, around 11:00, see if you can persuade any of them to give you a few coins.

5) Get a $500 citation from the police for "persistent and aggressive panhandling." Realize that you are going to have to skip lunch today.

6) See if you can find any of your friends, the ones who haven't been arrested, forced to move on, intimidated by criminals or dead from overdoses. If you can, see if you can pool whatever money you have managed to beg or find and buy something to take the gnawing pain of hunger away. If you don't have enough to eat, see if you have enough to buy some pot, so that you can at least lift your mood.

7) Line up outside whatever church or mission is serving Thanksgiving Dinner. Give up your space at least once to a mother with a small child, a WWII vet who really should be in a retirment home but who hasn't got enough money to pay for it, a guy who lost his legs or someone with cancer. After a 3 hour wait, get to the door as they run out of food.

8) Since it is now too late to get a shelter bed for the night, look round for a good doorway or alcove where you can sleep for the night. Hope that it is dry, and that you can find some cardboard.

9) As you begin to drift off to sleep, remember to give thanks.

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Everything in the foregoing is based on things that were told me by kids I taught, and were confirmed (in most cases) by personal obersvation of the circumstances in which they lived.


"Be seeing you.."

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Grassaf, Eolas

How awful. I can't imagine an adult having to tolerate that much less a child. Is there something that we can do to help out??

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

Be aware that this is really happening, in every major city. I know lots of people don't like to give money directly to pan-handlers, particularly street-youth (I understand the fear that they will use the money to buy drugs/alcohol, and thus that you will be aiding them to hurt themselves... but addictions don't go away because you didn't give someone a quarter, after all!) If you want to help indirectly, then give a donation to agencies that provide health assistance to the homeless (they frequently die of very preventable causes for lack of money to obtain common medications, and lack of diagnosis), or to a group that provide coats/sleeping bags and raingear to the homeless.

Don't allow yourself to be swayed by news media that frequently demonize the homeless in general, street-youth and panhandlers in particualr. Realize that no one in their right mind prefers the street to having a place of their own; and no young person is on the street simply because they won't accept their parents' "rules" -- the level of abuse, neglect and indifference that these kids endure before they choose the street is truly infernal. (I have spent many a sleepless night trying to deal with some of the things they have told me.)

"Be seeing you..."

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Grassaf, Eolas

I have wanted Interfaithforums involved in a cause. I think homelessness should be that cause. Does anyone have any ideas of what we can do as a team here?

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

People can help in many ways, and it is, unfortunately, near universal.

This may not been the best forum to post the idea in, though. People may overlook it in a list about cooking/food.

"be seeing you..."

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Grassaf, Eolas

Eolas, thank you for your post, and followup suggestions. About a thousand years ago (or so it seems), I was one of those kids on the street...

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

I used to live just outside of Washington DC, and commonly saw homeless people. Even though I saw them, I didn't see them. Part of that is probably because I was younger and more self-centered then, and part is probably from the culture that I grew up in. People who were less fortunate were non-existant then.

Now I believe that we should do whatever we can for those less fortunate than us. Funny how we change over time.

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."