ALT-1 How to Extend thanks to Homeless People during Thanksgiving
Often when you are going about your day-to-day shopping, especially if you live in a big town or city, you will see many homeless people sitting on the sidewalk, begging for spare change and most of them look very downtrodden. The reasons they are there are varied and there is always much speculation about how they actually spend the money that they may receive.
At thanksgiving, whilst everyone has something to be thankful for, it is important that you don’t forget the homeless people. There are several things that you can do to include them and extend the message of thanks to the homeless during thanksgiving,
Homeless people tend to beg for money most of the time, but sometimes you will hear them begging for food and even shelter. If you are unsure about what homeless people will spend their money on and you don’t want to encourage activities such as drug taking, you should think about the various gifts or things that you could offer to the homeless people.
Perhaps you have made a little more turkey than you can eat this year? You should think about making turkey sandwiches with the leftovers and taking them to the homeless people on the streets. If they are there for genuine reasons, they will be truly thankful of your kind gesture.
If you see a homeless person regularly and perhaps stop to talk now and then, you could offer them shelter if the weather is particularly cold. If you have young children, then this may not be safe, but even inviting a homeless person in from the cold for just a few hours in the evening can be something good to do. If you are feeling especially generous, you could even lay an extra place at your table this thanksgiving and offer a homeless person a meal with you and your family.
Helping the homeless can be something that you can do as a family to help children to understand why they should be thankful of all they have, and to see the true hardships that some people face. There are many children that live on the streets, so if you know of any, then you could encourage your child to offer one of their own toys as a thanksgiving gift to one of the homeless children near you. Helping out at the nearest homeless shelter can be something that is very rewarding to do at this time of the year too.
