IT ALL STARTED AT A GREAT BARBECUE IN 1621
Thanksgiving Day really should be "Giving Thanks Day". It is celebrated primarily in the US and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express ones positive feelings for life in general. Understandably it is not welcomed by PETA, or Turkeys.
It is believed it originated with the Pilgrims as a religious Holiday signifying the end of the harvest, today it is secular in belief and a national day off for some. I am comfortable with it being secular in nature, as it should be. We are a nation of one, we are all Americans.
We have a lot to be thankful for, some just don't understand or get it at times.
On Thanksgiving many families get together. Unfortunately I belong to a very limited family, age has it's attrition, albeit none live within a reasonable distance. I find myself alone on holidays, especially since I lost my wife. Not that the Holiday invites from friends as close as one floor down in my condo and as far as Texas, Wisconsin and Connecticut were not appreciated, they were. They came from real people, real friends.
LEFTOVERS
In the next few days, the annual get rid of the Turkey meat season will start, the Tur-care packages will arrive and I will be properly nourished. No thank you. (I have trained culinary skills, I planned to cook my own Turkey Breast, Italian style with lots of Infused Garlic and Rosemary, with Vegetables and Sweet Potatoes) later this week. I love to cook, just got too busy to plan anything.
To me, giving thanks day takes on a different meaning. At my age, I see things in a new light. Age brings a "certain uncertainty", a caution about the future. I see people struggling. The economy, foreclosures, repossessions, loss of jobs, all permeating the TV day in and day out.
You see all this and you pay attention when you get older because you remember the better times. And you just might remember what struggle is. Many in this country are hurting today simply because of the greed of others. You can reason with anything else you wish, it's still all about greed and selfishness.
LOST, FEW FOUND
I see kids lost in the Holiday, seeing it as a few days off, great food, plenty of it, and one day before the greatest shopping spectacular of all. BLACK FRIDAY. The computers, toys, clothes, electronics and housewares are screaming to be taken home all at significant savings or so you think. Most are markdowns soon to be discontinued or old inventory.
You will notice on the date stamp here it is 5 AM EST. I am up because in my condos as the roar of the cars staring to hit the stores at some who opened at 4:AM for the big sale sounds like a NASCAR start.
Actually they started earlier as one of the chains gave out coupons at 3:AM. Next year I will initiate a tires slashing program and put an end to this madness. It was a Harley starting that woke me. I'm trying to figure out how he will stuff a 50-inch Mitsubishi TV in those saddle bags.
I like to think of it as a time that people should be giving back. And not about the lavish displays and ceremonial family gatherings. "Enforced familization" I call it. Families are spread out today, and gatherings can be welcome and warm or tests of intestinal fortitude and patience and you wonder why you are there. I have been in those situations. I just packed and left.
PLANS DID NOT MATERIALIZE
I had plans to volunteer at the Veterans Hospital Facility, James A. Haley Hospital in Tampa, but only if I got my H1N1 shots by two days prior. My provider had the vaccine marked for me but the needles supplied from the government leaked. I could of fibbed. The needles were bad. New needles and my re-shot will be arriving on Monday. Those troops with severe cranial and spinal injuries didn't need me if I had the bug.
Backup: PLAN B:
If I could not get to Haley, I had planned to volunteer my services to any organization needing an extra experienced culinary hand in the kitchen, those who gave their time and energy to assist the poor, the homeless, the street people, those down on their luck. Most like the Salvation Army and others had it under control; as you will see.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
I received a call from one my reporter friends, John Sipos asking what I had planned for the day and I explained things were up in the air and nothing concrete since I did not get a panic call from anyone.
Grab your gear, he said, we'll head down to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, one of the larger "soup kitchens", and street aid facilities in the United States.
They feed 700-1000 people a day in the St. Petersburg facility. OK, I grabbed my camera gear and my Chef's knife case, just in case. I was prepared to multi-task Thanksgiving. Whats up I asked John in the car? "Oh, the Governor will probably show up around 10:30". I thought he was kidding. We do that a lot to each other.
SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL:
John and I arrived about ten and I grabbed my gear. There were people all over the property which is a good sized facility in St. Petersburg.
They were awaiting the Thanksgiving meal.
The new kitchen opened in 2003, replaced a smaller “soup kitchen” that had been operational since 1985.
They offer for their guests, a warm welcome, and three nutritious, quality meals every day of the year, averaging about 700 a day, 21,000 per month, 252,000 a year.
Because of the economy now and into winter, the numbers are possibly higher. It is the generosity of the public that, year after year, donates hundreds of pounds of food. Their kitchen staff prepares, and serves, special feasts on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. This time the street people will have a special guest at dinner.
GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?
About 10:28, two black large SUV's turned the corner, parked in front, and after checking the area, the FDLE, the Governor and Mrs. Crist stepped out. In trail, these folks move fast, we went into the facility through the kitchen entrance, trying to get a few shots.
About twelve or fifteen staff were in the kitchen doing what kitchen staff do. We called it "the conga line" where I learned kitchen chores on a mass scale. They were prepping hundreds of plated meals.
What a well organized event. People knew what they had to do and they followed their assignments.
But as I entered the main hall, I was floored by the amount of people who had volunteered.
I can take these floorings everyday, this is whats it's all about.
It was like a small army. I saw teams setting tables and chairs, food servers, pie servers, and drink servers all split up into groups to make the large service work as smooth as possible. I was impressed.
Within a few minutes the doors were opened and each of the "guests" were warmly welcomed by staff, an army of volunteers and they were seated for their Thanksgiving meal.
One of the directors gave the invocation and then asked Gov. Charley Crist to say a few words.
THE FOOD WAS TERRIFIC
It amazed me, I had tasted some of it in the kitchen. Excellent restaurant quality literally seasoned with a lot of love.
Cooking for four or five and cooking for four or five hundred is a different philosophy.
The menu consisted of turkey, with stuffing, cranberry, pole beans in a hollandaise sauce, mashed and sweet potatoes, home baked rolls and muffins, and tea. Fresh baked pie for desert.
Thats why they had teams because as soon as one person finished their entree, the pie servers were right on the spot so as to open the seat for the next guest. Very efficient. This allowed fast turns as many were waiting on line.
A rough guess was 160 seated at a time. All the seats were filled.
Both the Governor and Mrs. Crist took their turns at serving the meals assisted by the volunteers.
It gave the Governor the opportunity to get some feedback from these folks who simply asked for jobs that would get them out of their situation.
FOOD FOR THE HEART
I felt something good happening that took place this day. If I went back 24 hours in time, before I knew what we were doing, I felt some anxiety and thus I could tell you how people feel during the holidays with no real plans.
I understood what "holiday depression" can be all about. I once did a story that involved my own family. My wife lost a brother to a fire that started at a Christmas party and a niece who died driving to a Christmas party during the season. The holiday season, begins with Thanksgiving and continues through New Year's Day and folks have to focus. Especially those who have been displaced by mis-fortune.
Realistically, holidays are stress creators. Relationships are key, every family has some form of dysfunctional apparent in some way to each other and to those outside their family. To others, gifting and shopping is stressful, trying to be both politically and financially correct. These are really sociological stress points of the season.
Real depression can be loneliness, no home, living on the street, not knowing the future, no plans, or chances for change.
Organizations like the SVDP may be the most important and closest link with civility these folks have.
And thats because of the special people, the volunteers. There was little I could of added to help.
They had all the bases covered. We stayed about three hours and the Governor left for other committments.
WHAT DID I LEARN
The highlights made the day...I will tell you a few things, that I observed during this day of grace.
I saw compassion and caring for those going through tough times by those who could of easily been golfing, watching football or doing something else. They were the volunteers who understood what it is to have and have not.
I saw working directors and staff on top of everything to assure the success. I saw courtesy and kindness, team spirit and respect.
I saw food prepared with the same skills and quality if the President were attending. Well, we had a Governor attend, for St. Petersburg, just as good.
Made me feel though we are a small city with a big heart. If I had to take one thing away about this day, it wasn't again being with the Governor, nor his wife. Note: It was my first time meeting her in person and she is as charming and warm as she is beautiful. It wasn't the food, it wasn't the volunteers... it was everything...
"It was an outpouring of love from all those things that happened this day and for that I give thanks. "It was the whole package, I took away the feeling that there are still those who do care what goes on in this world". Thats the meaning of 'giving thanks' or "Thanksgiving".
AUTHOR and PHOTOGRAPHER
Al Jacobson, photographs and writes in the Tampa Bay area on a myriad of subjects. He is from NY and occasionally speaks English, preferring Brooklyn based meta-phonetic syllabication (aka Street English).
His high school English teacher, once commented to his parents, "He should try learning a foreign language like English... in a foreign country". He retorted, "Shakespeare doth not a genius make, for he spake in terms reminiscent of a flake". She threw him out of the class.
My name is AL JACOBSON and I documented, wrote scribbled and approved every word of this page. Unfortunately on a few of my other pages, the tourist board, my teachers, a few politicians, and celebrities didn't have the same sense of humor...