MC in Today's Herald Tribune

Thanksgiving 2020 is shaping up to be a Thanksgiving like no other.

Happy to report that the Sarasota Herald Tribune included a recent essay I wrote in its op-ed pages today!

First — an update, though. As of Friday, November 20, readers — like you —have already directly several hundred dollars to All Faiths Food Bank via the THINK Thanksgiving drive. With the op-ed in today’s Herald Trib, hopefully more donations will come in as well. The food emergency across our country is growing each day.

On November 26, ’ll also be sending my check in an amount equal to any paid subscriptions I receive in November though Nov. 25. As soon as I receive the final tabulation from All Faiths, I’ll update all of you on the total amount raised through our THINK community :). And super GIANT thank you to all participants and gratitude toward all who give in other ways within their own communities, neighborhoods, etc.

I’ll be taking the holiday week off from writing, but will return on December 4. Below is my column from today’s paper … and wishing you all a very safe and very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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Thanksgiving 2020 is shaping up to be a Thanksgiving like no other. 

Some of us will not be celebrating with family -- or at least not with family members who don't live within our home.  Others will miss the companionship of close friends and neighbors with whom, over the years, we've gathered together for "Friendsgiving." And too many of us will have to wave hello at our parents or grandparents who sit beyond our touch, isolated from love behind a glass window inside a nursing home.

For many, this Thanksgiving will not feel normal.

But for a great many, for far too many, this Thanksgiving will feel just like every other -- normal in the sense that there is just not enough: not enough food, not enough money, not enough companionship or love -- and there hasn't been for a long time, maybe never.

Year in and year out, there are families in our community that never can afford what so many of us might call a "traditional" Thanksgiving of turkey, dressing, potatoes, and pie.  There are parents who have no choice but to work on Thanksgiving and leave their children in the care of another.  There are individuals -- many of them elderly, but a lot of them not -- who live alone and never feel lonelier than on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday -- for many simply because they get to be with loved ones.  But for others, it's a favored holiday simply because of the rare abundance of ample, delicious food. I  hate to think of an abundance of food being rare, but I know it's a condition of our community. 

With its 2020 "Thankful Tummies" program, using just a $28 donation, All Faiths Food Bank can provide a holiday meal of turkey and all the trimmings for a family of five.

Donations may be made at allfaithsfoodbank.org/thankfull. To join the THINK drive simply add the notation "MC Coolidge Think Thanksgiving drive" to the donation “comment” section.

And while I know that donating one holiday meal won't permanently imprint that luxurious feeling of having "enough" into the lives of parents and children who don't have the privilege of experiencing that feeling every day, I do believe that acts of kindness and moments of true generosity resonate through a community in ways that are unknowable -- altering the sensibilities and outlooks of both the giver and the receiver and weaving a bond of inter-connectedness that is needed now more than ever.

With every donation to All Faiths, we're not just giving a great holiday meal, we're consciously choosing to reach beyond our own immediate families to strengthen the bonds that hold us together as a community.

In this year of tremendous loss and hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and in this year of what seems like unprecedented political strife and strain, there are national challenges that are well beyond our individual control.  But taking care of each other within our own community through acts of kindness for individuals who live alone -- a special card, phone call, or delivery of a home-cooked meal -- or by making donations to fund a hearty holiday meal for families and others who have been especially impacted economically? That's a local challenge we can all do something about.

There's never been a more crucial time for us to come together as a community and create kinship through caring.

If you enjoyed this Thanksgiving message and essay — it’s shareable on Facebook, Twitter, via email, and lots of other ways — just click the “share” link below and feel free to send it along to others.