Personal Narrative: The Turkey Drive

As I begin to recollect past experiences and events growing up, Thanksgiving is the holiday that appears most meaningful. I choose to illuminate Thanksgiving because this is a time when family and friends would forget their worries and differences and collectively came together at grandmother’s house to partake of the Gullah dishes. Furthermore, it serves as a vehicle in stimulating family health and wellbeing, while passing on the identity of the family throughout generations. As I reminiscence, I can recall the air was bursting with love, hugs, laugher and kisses; a sight to behold. Grandmother’s house was small but no one seemed to care as it was inviting. Every area of the house was utilized from the kitchen to the narrow stairway that lead upstairs to the bedrooms. Children were outside playing working up an appetite although there was a chill in the air often going unnoticed, still we were bundled in our hats, coats and mittens. This was not a formal affair but we were all neatly dressed. The house was filled with distinct smells that was heavenly. Steam came from the kitchen as finishing touches were placed on meals. Watching my aunts sweat trying to maneuver in a tight kitchen hoping to avoid bumping into one another was hilarious, but I paid close attention for one day that would be me

Although I had sufficient meals in morning and evening, I was still hunger during day time. I played tennis on Wednesday. While running on the court, I felt extremely dehydrated and starving. When I hit the ball, I suddenly felt that I was going to fall down because I was shaky and exhausted. I ran to the bathroom and squatted down. I was overwhelmed by my weakness that a sense of insecurity surrounded me. “I am weak”, I told myself, “I can not do this”. I suddenly reflected on my experience in Yemen. I was sitting in the car while I witnessed refugee children knocking on my window and tirelessly begging for food. In their eyes, I saw no anger but fear. All they worried about were the basic need of living: food. Many people, nowadays, fast to lose weight. For them, fasting shows their courage and persistence. They lose the sympathy to the poor who starve to death. However, many poor people, including labors and refugees, have to do heavy manual work for livings. In addition to physical pain, the poor also suffer mentally. For instance, the refugee children are always worrying about their next meals with no sense of secure. They have no hope to their futures. With the experience of working in hunger, I am able to relate my feelings to poor people’s feelings and show empathy toward them.

Two years ago, I was sitting in a dimly lit packing room, wedged between a stalled out pale yellow refrigerator and a stack of boxes, packed to the brim with all sorts of canned fruits and vegetables. People worked quickly here, moving boxes from one corner of the room to another, creating a rhythm of sorts. Thump. Swoosh. Thump. Swoosh. The boxes left in droves as lines of people congregated around the open warehouse door with open hands ready to accept what was offered while statements of gratitude leapt from their tongues. The amount of people waiting outside far outnumbered the volunteers, but the volunteers worked hard, they knew they had to today. It was 104 degrees outside and some of these people standing in line, with children in tow, had been waiting for hours. It was distribution day at the South Texas Food Bank and I was there to help.

A direct action that resonated with me from the course readings was that of the Mass Hunger Clinics provided by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty(OCAP), starting in 2005. The Mass Hunger Clinic resonated with me because it is, for me, something real. It is a struggle that I see every day at work with a lot of my students and I have been for many years part of the food for learning program with my school board. The lack of nutritious foods and the resources to obtain them is something that shouldn’t happen. It made me very upset to think about these families and the length they had to go to in order to provide for both themselves and their families. The OCAP developed these Mass Hunger Clinics as an “initiative focused on the special diet

Thanksgiving Holiday means so much to me. I love to celebrate that extended weekend with my family. On the eve of the big day, my cousins and I meet at an elder’s house and then the festivities began. This shared feast started in 1621 with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians sharing a harvest feast ("Thanksgiving," 2016). A portion of the food can be prepared the day before. We decide who would handle what task and when it time clean up the second generation, always try to make the third generation do it. We then continue to cook and clean and reminisce of our past year. Sometimes we would bring up our childhood pranks and stories of family members that passed and present. On the day of Thanksgiving we finish cooking,

My siblings and I raced out the front door. Our grandma, Mimi, was finally here! The weather was just beginning to cool off. The trees outside rustled in the crisp breeze. I love Thanksgiving. Family together, cool weather, and the scent of pumpkin spice filling rooms.

Furthermore, a distinct set amount of money should not have been the objective of our fundraiser. Setting a goal of $50 - $100 may have been a form of pressure on the group members. Having a funds goal could have disconcerted our own perceptions of the message behind the Toonies for Turkeys placing a great strain on group members if they were not able to raise at least $50. Thus, we may have shifted our focus from enlightening Calgarians on the issues surrounding poverty in Calgary to reaching a monetary intent. Even though money was a vital part of our fundraiser, it was not the only ambition behind it. Educating people and recognizing the impact of such education is what should have been the major focal point of our Toonies for Turkeys fundraiser.

Early one November morning a woman stared at me with utter disbelief, tears of gratitude streaming down her cheeks."Thank you," she mouthed silently to me, clutching her son to her chest. I was proud knowing that, because of my efforts, her family and many more who struggle with poverty would be able to share a Thanksgiving meal. I knew that many children in my community would not be able to celebrate the holiday as others might because their parents could not afford to buy food items, and so as Vice President of a community service club called Interact, I was inspired to provide these children with a Thanksgiving dinner. The club officers and I sat crowded around our adviser's desk brainstorming how we would collect ingredients. We decided

The sun had just set on a chilly November evening in Mountain House, the sky was transitioning to dark black, as we Interactors set out into the neighborhood to collect donations for our first Thanksgiving Food Drive. Within 90 minutes we had collected nearly 200 pounds of nonperishable food, achieving a remarkable feat. It was then donated to Second Harvest Food Bank, a local charity in Modesto, CA. From there, the donations were distributed to families in need, helping them complete their Thanksgiving dinners.

Hunger… this affects an estimate of 13 million children in America and about 795 million people worldwide. Hunger is a severe crisis that has been continuously growing in many homes throughout our community. Children and families in Laredo are suffering from this epidemic and it is important to spread awareness to end it. Personally, I believe that when you help one person, you are one step closer to changing the world. As a human being, it is our duty to recognize the struggles our community faces and help people from our community surpass these problems. A way I would help with humanitarian efforts in our community is by volunteering and sharing the stories of the people whose lives were affected. Around our city of Laredo, in the county of Webb, we have many people that would go hungry if not identified. Many of these people in our community do not qualify for social services due to the family’s being undocumented. It is the community’s responsibility to educate and find these people who might otherwise go hungry. It is a challenge where our border community needs to help and provide the basic needs for children and families in our area. I would like to work hand in hand with local foodbanks and begin to expand a community garden which would provide vegetables to people in need of food. If the community comes together to motivate our population to be aware of hunger in our community, we would all be better because of the help that we may provide

For families across the United States, Thanksgiving is a holiday to come together with family and loved ones to celebrate the good things life has to offer. Before analyzing my own family’s Thanksgiving festivities, I hadn’t given much thought to way we celebrate and what the underlying meanings of our actions are. While some of the traditions of the holiday say something about our society as a whole, I was also able to view the implicit meanings of my family’s specific actions. This analysis made me realize that while our society is attempting to move forward and break norms, they are still heavily present within our everyday subconscious actions and holiday traditions. Although I am grateful I was able to come to this realization, it

My family has always fostered the importance of community within me. Every week for Sunday dinner my entire family gathered at my grandparents to eat, catch-up, but most importantly reflect on current events. This tradition brought my family together, and when I was ten we decided to turn our tradition into service. As our way of giving back we chose to cook meals at the Ronald McDonald House Southern New Jersey because it allowed us to reinforced our sense of family. The service was more than providing a meal --it was our way of extending our family’s love and compassion to others all across the world who came to the Ronald House.

On the edge of winter comes November, introducing early evenings, brisk air, and leafless trees, but before winter settles in, Thanksgiving must come in. While there are some constants in the way we observe the day, it is certain that America’s once most treasured holiday has gone down in the past years. Many stores today, are already skipping Thanksgiving, and heading straight to Christmas because retail stores are more concerned with their profits than the bonding time of families across the world. However, it is critically important to understand the benefits Thanksgiving introduces to the world. Whatever one’s view is, people should continue to celebrate Thanksgiving for its strengthening of families, and its benefits to the economy.

At that point of my childhood, my family was unaware of American holidays and traditions since they barely settled in The United States. One of the holidays that were a major topic of discussion in American schools was Thanksgiving. When I was in elementary, teachers would make students draw turkeys, color turkeys, and play games that featured turkeys. I did not comprehend what Thanksgiving was truly about as a child, but I did know that it was “turkey day,” meaning that on Thanksgiving I was supposed to eat a turkey with my family just like the rest of my peers said they would.

Franklin the Turkey was no ordinary turkey. He could do what no other turkey could do; change himself to become other animals. He was doing just this when he heard with his massive elephant ears a nearby turkey crying for help. Swiftly and Silently, Franklin changed into an eagle and sailed over to the weeping bird.