This is the sort of Thanksgiving meal all families should be able to enjoy. For too many American families, your support is the difference between this meal and an empty stomach. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Around the world, all sorts of families of different religions celebrate Thanksgiving. The music, the games, spending time with family and friends, all the food you can eat, feeling the comfort of your loved ones…

What about the people who can’t afford to celebrate, or have no place to stay? What about the people with no family to spend their time with? Almost 70 percent of all homeless Americans are single adults; about one third are in homeless families, and about 3 percent are unaccompanied youth. In total, that’s almost four million people – two million children – in need. A shaky economy will boost these statistics for years.

That is a huge part of our population. Are you wondering what you can do? Here’s a thought…sacrifice a day. Yes, that’s right – sacrifice a day.

What do I mean by that? Instead of spending your Thanksgiving only with your friends and family, spend it with people who need your help the most. This year, start a new tradition instead of sitting at home. Go out and volunteer at a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, the Samaritan Center, the Salvation Army, etc…

This may not mean much to you, but think: you can change someone’s life by just helping out and giving them food or clothing to make sure they stay warm. Just imagine yourself standing on the other side of the counter at the soup kitchen.

You can volunteer at a nursing home: play music, play games, sing, read stories, just talk. Or volunteer at a food pantry, either serving food or collecting food to donate.

Or you can even volunteer to help with chores for the elderly: shovel snow, rake leaves, mow lawn, weed garden, water plants, walk dog, etc. You can do that for anyone you know who needs the help.

Wouldn’t you want someone’s help if you had no where else to turn to? I know I would. There are a lot of ways you can help. If you don’t decide to volunteer, why not donate something?

“If someone needed my help, then yes, I would sacrifice a day for them,” said sophomore Hao-Nhi Duong. “It’s all about who needs the help the most, but even the littlest of things can cause a huge change.”

Donate food, clothing, and necessities that you would want to use. Think about the amount of influence you can have on the children if you just come for a day and show that you care for them.“My family donates to different charities even the ones through school,” said Duong.

If you’re not into that maybe you can do something else. How about community clean ups? No need for permission just go around picking up trash or anything that is not in the right place.

This is an easier way to help someone and helping the environment. Here at LHS the Key Club does many things like this; they volunteer in several places, and they also organize collections for important causes.

For example, you can help by bringing in food for food drive. Other clubs, such as the National Honor Society, also collect food. This year is a year of change, so try something new. If not now, when?

Suggested Volunteering Organizations

• Local food pantries
• American Red Cross
• Toys for Tots
• Meals on Wheels
• Habitat For Humanity
• Salvation Army
• Samaritan Center
• Anything that interests you!

This is not a complete list of organizations in need of volunteers. The Lifeguard Online neither endorses nor rejects any organization based on its inclusion in or exclusion from this list.