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The organizations feeding record numbers this Thanksgiving · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:10
  You are listening to the Hidden Lightness on America Out Loud Talk Radio.
• 0:14
  I'm your host, Jimmy Hinton.
• 0:16
  Well, happy Thanksgiving, folks.
• 0:18
  I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving.
• 0:21
  And uh 'tis the season.
• 0:23
  It is the holiday, and we're here celebrating uh God and blessings and uh all things America, and it's just great.
• 0:35
  I always love Thanksgiving because it's a reminder of what we have, and it's a reminder that those of us who do have the opportunity and ability to help people who don't.
• 0:50
  And I think it's a time to lay down our weapons, so to speak, and uh, you know, it still irritates me that the major media is so focused on what's happening in Washington, and you look around, and there's a world beyond Washington.
• 1:10
  There really is.
• 1:12
  There's a huge world beyond Washington, and that folks is what we're going to focus on today.
• 1:18
  It's the world out there, it's the real world.
• 1:22
  Uh Washington is such a bubble, and the corruption that's in Washington is staggering.
• 1:30
  And out here on the outside where you live, there's a lot of good going on.
• 1:37
  And I want to step away from the politics of Washington and look at what blessings are being dispersed across this great nation.
• 1:47
  And there are a few stories that are absolutely incredible, and they warm my heart, and they're fantastic.
• 1:55
  There are actually three different groups that are helping people across the country.
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  And I know there are many, many, many, many more, and I don't want to undermine those or or ignore them, but you know, a lot of these we just don't know about.
• 2:12
  It's it's happening in your local community.
• 2:15
  Um virtually every local community across America are providing meals for people who don't otherwise have Thanksgiving meals or a way to get Thanksgiving meals.
• 2:28
  There are people who are hosting people for Thanksgiving, they're putting them up in their houses, and they're uh genuinely caring for people who have nowhere to go.
• 2:40
  And I I think it's fantastic, and I think this is what really makes us shine as as Americans, is that God has blessed us beyond measure, and even people who are middle class and lower middle class, and you know, people who who live here in this nation are blessed much more than what we realize, a lot of us, and I think we have the ability to uh to help people like no other place.
• 3:14
  Um I know many, many people living in other countries who are just they're they're struggling, they're struggling to find their next meal.
• 3:23
  They're struggling literally to find out how they're gonna feed their family tomorrow, and it's hard, it's tough.
• 3:33
  Life is really tough.
• 3:34
  The things that are going on in a lot of war-torn countries, uh, on and on and on, you know, the what's going on in Gaza, uh, the amount of destruction and what's going on in Ukraine, the amount of destruction, what's going on in Nigeria, the amount of destruction and death and and war and fighting, and you know, it's just so challenging.
• 4:09
  And there are a lot of challenges that that go on in this world, even right here in America.
• 4:14
  There are a lot of challenges.
• 4:16
  I've been covering these stories where people's snap benefits were were cut, and people were literally wondering how they were gonna eat.
• 4:27
  And now there's a restructuring of snap, and everybody has to reapply, and and that's causing a lot of headache.
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  So there's a lot of poverty all around the world, even here in America.
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  And so those of us who have really ought to make it a point to help those who do not.
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  And that's what today's story is all about.
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  There are three different groups, as I mentioned, and one is in Connecticut.
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  This is Fellowship Church and Middletown communities record Turkey Drive.
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  I love this story.
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  So there's a uh a local church called Fellowship, along with the Middletown community in Connecticut.
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  And I saw an unprecedented demand for Thanksgiving meal baskets this year, and a big part of that was because the snap uh snap benefits were cut off.
• 5:24
  And a lot of people were panicking, low-income people are panicking, wondering how they were gonna eat and not just eat, but you know, people want and really deserve to have a decent Thanksgiving meal.
• 5:38
  And we often don't think about that, or at least I don't.
• 5:42
  Or at least I didn't used to.
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  I didn't used to think about the people who didn't have the ability to eat Thanksgiving.
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  You know, it's a simple meal, and it's one that I used to take for granted.
• 5:56
  We would always come together, and I mentioned this week already.
• 6:02
  My mother is one of the most hospitable people that I've ever met in my life.
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  She loves to host people, she loves to invite people into her home.
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  Thanksgiving is the one time of year that she will literally find random people and invite them into her house because she just feels bad.
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  And she's like, you know, everybody deserves everybody deserves to have a meal, and it's not fair that because people can't afford a meal or they don't have family nearby uh to be able to celebrate and sit down and eat a meal.
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  That that's just not fair.
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  And so she always vowed that her house would be a place with open doors, and she is always adhered to that.
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  And so in my mind, she is she's a hero.
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  And these are the kinds of stories that don't get highlighted in the news, and there are millions of Americans who are like that.
• 6:55
  I've heard story after story.
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  I just heard one this past weekend.
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  We were hosting very, very good friends of ours who are missionaries in Ecuador, and they were telling a story of their um their niece and their son who were traveling with a quote stray, somebody who uh they're friends with, and she just didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving.
• 7:23
  And uh they they brought her up to um to their family gathering.
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  My friends actually left on Sunday, and they went to go be with their family in Michigan, and so they all met up and they were talking about this uh this friend of their of their sons and of their niece.
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  And they're like, you know, we just absolutely love this time of year because we, you know, that's what our family does.
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  We find people, um, we find people who don't have anywhere to go.
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  And and you think about, you know, missionaries are especially in tune with this because at colleges, which is where their son and their niece go.
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  It's a it's actually my alma mater.
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  Uh they they said there are people who come here from other countries, and they don't have anywhere to go.
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  And not only that, they close the dorms down for that whole Thanksgiving break and Christmas break and so forth.
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  They shut the the dorms down, and people have to find somewhere to go.
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  Well, when people come here from other countries, they don't have transportation, they don't have a place to go.
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  They typically don't have a whole bunch of money sitting around where they can just get a hotel or an Airbnb for a week.
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  And it's a really big problem.
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  People have to scramble, and they have people from countries all over the place.
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  You know, it it it virtually every college.
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  And so that's kind of an avenue that that we don't think about often.
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  But you know, my friends were telling me that's that's how our parents feel.
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  You know, our parents say that Thanksgiving is the one time of year that we will go out of our way to invite anybody into our home.
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  You know, when people don't have anywhere to go, we will absolutely kick our doors open to those people, and we'll roll out the welcome map.
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  And I was like, that's so cool because that's that's how my mom is.
• 9:25
  My mom is so you know, we were sharing these stories about bringing strays in, because uh, when I was in college, I remember bringing uh I remember one time bringing uh a friend from Albania home.
• 9:40
  And uh, you know, she didn't have anywhere to go, and and uh we brought her up here, and then she insisted on cooking uh a meal over break, and it just it was so fun.
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  You know, we got to learn about Albanian culture, and uh it just it was such a cool time.
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  So it's a great time of
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  Year, and it's it's a time of year where we need to be focused on other people.
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  We need to be thinking about other people because we are so blessed.
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  We're incredibly blessed.
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  So the fellowship church and the Middletown community in Connecticut, they have this huge demand for Thanksgiving meal baskets.
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  I mean, massive.
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  They've never seen this before.
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  So the signups quickly depleted their planned stock.
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  They were like, oh, you know, it was like day one of the signups where people sign up to get food, these food baskets, and they're like, well, we don't have nearly enough stock.
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  So the story goes viral locally.
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  And then it generated regional news coverage.
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  Because community members, including the Middletown Police Department, they rallied immediately.
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  And uh, so the church got involved.
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  They connected with the police department, which I always encourage.
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  You should know by now, I am a big fan of churches partnering with uh with police stations.
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  I think it's fantastic.
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  I would love to see more uh like the secret Santa where churches give large amounts of money to police departments, and because I'm telling you, the police know probably more than anybody.
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  They know where the poverty is.
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  They just know.
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  I when I was friends with um with our police chief, who unfortunately passed away due to cancer, um fairly recently, within the last year or two.
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  Um, I I was really good friends with him, and I used to ask him.
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  I was like, you know, we had any time that we had extra money and we wanted to help out during the holiday season.
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  I I would talk to the chief, and he would say, Yeah, I have a whole list of families.
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  Where do you want to start?
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  What do you want to do?
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  What specifically do you want to do to help?
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  Because I could sit here all day long and and I could tell you people in need.
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  I could give you names.
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  I could give you addresses.
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  He's like, I could, and he's like, you know, it's up to you.
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  You could deliver something to them, or you could do it anonymously, or you could do it through the police department.
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  He's like, totally up to you.
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  Like he was more than willing to bend over backwards.
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  And I think most police departments are like that.
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  They want to help.
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  And in my opinion, I kind of like whenever the police look like the heroes, uh, because they already are.
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  You know, people who are in uniform, people who dedicate their lives to uh keeping us safe to protecting us.
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  Uh, I I already view them as heroes.
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  So I kind of am a fan of giving the police department credit.
• 12:57
  And then you know, some Christians are like, well, no, you, you know, you want to point people to the church.
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  Let them know that the church did it, and that'll point people to God.
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  And my opinion is there's enough blessing to go around.
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  Churches don't need to um they don't need to hover over those uh those blessings.
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  You know, they don't need to lay their stakes down and and lay claim to those blessings.
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  There are plenty to go around.
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  There are plenty of opportunities for churches to bless people.
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  And I I just I'm a big fan of giving credit to police departments.
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  You know, you fund them, you give them money as a church, and you include them and you you give them ownership, and I'm all for that.
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  I am all for that.
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  And there are a lot of people doing that.
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  So here's a case in point where the fellowship church, they partner with the Middletown Police Department.
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  And uh, it went absolutely viral.
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  They hosted an on-the-spot turkey collection drive and drop-offs, and they ensured it was their goal that no family that signed up was turned away.
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  There was an overwhelming community response.
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  And this highlights this powerful moment of local unity and generosity in a year of high need.
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  You know, it's it's uh this local compassion.
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  It shows that you don't have to reach out across the entire nation of America.
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  You don't have to do it.
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  Local communities can do this.
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  They got, I think it was something like 40,000 turkeys.
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  It was something crazy like that.
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  And like, do you realize the amount of cost?
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  You look at what a turkey costs.
• 15:02
  I need to correct that.
• 15:03
  I was I was thinking of another story because uh there are several stories, and I've read through a whole bunch of them.
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  There were that was another organization that did 40,000 turkeys.
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  This one, they did 1,500 turkeys, which still, I mean, that's really impressive.
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  You look at the average cost of a turkey, you know, you're talking like what, 25 bucks a turkey or thereabout.
• 15:25
  Uh, that's that's a lot of money, and that's just for the turkey.
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  You know, you're talking in the ballpark of 40,000 just for the turkeys alone.
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  That doesn't include potatoes, onions, cranberry sauce, stuffing, you know, on and on and on.
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  They're stuffing these baskets full.
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  And they're not, I mean, they're not exactly cheap.
• 15:49
  So the fact that a local community can come up with this kind of money, and I'm guessing it was somewhere in the ballpark.
• 15:54
  It had to have been, you know, somewhere in the ballpark a hundred thousand dollars with all the things that they uh bought, purchased, put in the boxes, you know, food's not free.
• 16:05
  And uh, and they did it, they pulled it off.
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  So I think it's really incredible.
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  And after the break, we'll share more of these stories because there are more.
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  Uh, but I just think that it's important this time of year that we we find ways to fund these things.
• 16:23
  And I love that the fellowship church didn't, they didn't say, oh my goodness, we're running out of food, so it's first come first serve.
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  They were like, no, no, no, no, we're gonna do a drive where not one person will be turned away.
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  And God's gonna provide.
• 16:39
  And guess what?
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  They set the bar high, they put it out there, they told people what the goal was, and the people delivered.
• 16:49
  Fantastic story.
• 16:52
  I love these stories.
• 16:55
  We're coming up on a break here.
• 16:56
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• 20:02
  Happy Thanksgiving.
• 20:04
  There are organizations that are just providing meals all over the place.
• 20:08
  As we dine together and enjoy our Thanksgiving, and we sit down with our families.
• 20:15
  I am enjoying my Thanksgiving with my family in Michigan.
• 20:19
  And I absolutely love spending time with family.
• 20:23
  And it's it's the one time of year that I think most of us probably enjoy coming together and uh spending time with our families and praying together and giving God thanks for all that he's blessed us with.
• 20:37
  And it's just a wonderful, wonderful time of year.
• 20:40
  But it's also the time of year that we can focus on other people.
• 20:47
  Because that's the whole point.
• 20:49
  You know, Thanksgiving is about celebrating what the pilgrims did.
• 20:55
  And it's about sharing, and it's about giving God thanks and giving blessing for the things that God has blessed us with, for the abundance that God has blessed us with.
• 21:09
  And it's one of the things that I just I think we take for granted probably too often.
• 21:17
  Where you see it with people's attitudes, and uh, you know, people get nasty and they they they um they get nasty with each other and they get entitled and people rob and loot and uh get angry with people and get road rage and like they're even entitled to their own lane, you know, like don't come into my space.
• 21:41
  Uh I just have zero tolerance for road ragers.
• 21:44
  Uh that's that's a whole nother story for another day, but it's just this sense of entitlement that I think we need to eliminate.
• 21:51
  We really need to get rid of that sense of entitlement and thank God for all that he's given us.
• 21:59
  Yeah, I was I was listening to a clip uh actually just this morning.
• 22:04
  It was a clip from a Christian in Nigeria, and she was given an interview, and she was like, you know, we're asking the American people uh not to have pity on us.
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  Don't pity us because of all the all the all the um all the martyrdom that's happening.
• 22:27
  What we need, what we're calling for, what we're begging people for.
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  We want people to pray for us.
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  And we're not angry with God, we're not abandoning God.
• 22:41
  She's like, it's just the opposite.
• 22:44
  We're talking about how blessed we are.
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  And that Jesus was considered worthy to suffer, and we're considered worthy to suffer for his name.
• 22:58
  And her humility really gripped me.
• 23:00
  I mean, it absolutely, like I was watching this, and and uh my eyes began to sweat.
• 23:07
  Um, I wasn't crying, my eyes were sweating.
• 23:10
  And I just thought it was so different from what you hear here typically.
• 23:18
  And I know there's so much good that goes on in America, but I think there are still so many perspectives that we just don't have.
• 23:27
  And we really are in a lot of areas very entitled, and we don't appreciate the things we have.
• 23:34
  We ask for more.
• 23:36
  Um, we we buy more, we get caught in these endless cycles of algorithms and and you know Black Friday is people are just probably already drooling about Black Friday.
• 23:47
  I went on a Black Friday shopping spree one time, and it was only because we had a very specific thing that we wanted to buy, and it was like, you know, marked 60 or 70% off.
• 24:01
  And I was like, uh only because I I really we need them.
• 24:08
  Um it was actually actually wasn't for us, it was a present, but um that's another story.
• 24:16
  But the point is it was something that I really wanted, and I didn't want to pay full price for.
• 24:22
  So I went with my father-in-law on Black Friday, and I gotta tell you, that was the first and last.
• 24:30
  I just have zero desire for that.
• 24:34
  Like watching the the endless lines of people and people getting mad and people jump in line and people shoving each other, like it just it was so bizarre.
• 24:45
  And I'm like, I don't enjoy this.
• 24:49
  Like there is nothing whatsoever that I like about this.
• 24:53
  Like, none of it.
• 24:56
  So I think when we get away from the consumerism, and we start focusing on our blessings, it brings God back into focus, and it brings our mission back into focus, our mission to help people, to serve people, to be kind to people, to feed and clothe and visit people in their distress.
• 25:23
  You know, James says, pure and undefiled religion is this to visit the orphans and the widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
• 25:35
  You know, that second part of that is really, really important.
• 25:37
  Keep yourself unstained from the world.
• 25:39
  Well, what does what does James mean?
• 25:43
  Well, in the context, throughout James's letter, he's talking about not showing favoritism.
• 25:51
  And very specifically, not showing favoritism to people who are not poor.
• 26:00
  Yeah, he gives an example, and he's like, somebody comes in in into your worship, they come into your assembly, and if one is dressed a certain way and you ignore him and leave them standing, but somebody else is dressed in fine linen, and you're like, hey, come here, you know, here's a seat of honor.
• 26:18
  James is like, you have sinned.
• 26:22
  So in the context, when he's talking about caring for the orphans and the widows in their distress, he's saying that is your purpose.
• 26:31
  That's what Christianity is about.
• 26:36
  It's to serve poor people, it's to serve people in distress, it's to serve people who are fatherless.
• 26:47
  You know, it and to keep yourself unstained from the world.
• 26:50
  What he means is don't get roped into this constant pursuit of wealth and status.
• 26:59
  Getting the bigger cars and the, you know, the massive house when you have people outside who are literally starving.
• 27:10
  So for me, Thanksgiving is such a time to refocus and to recalibrate as Christians and to come back and to focus on what this great nation was founded on.
• 27:23
  You know, that all of us, all people, all people have the right to worship God.
• 27:32
  It's the pursuit of happiness, right?
• 27:36
  Freedom.
• 27:39
  So for me, that's absolutely what we ought to focus on during Thanksgiving.
• 27:46
  And so I I highlight the organizations and the people who are.
• 27:50
  So Operation Turkey, that's another organization.
• 27:54
  It is 100%.
• 27:56
  That's you didn't mishear that.
• 27:58
  100% volunteer-led.
• 28:03
  They have zero paid staff.
• 28:07
  None.
• 28:09
  Their mission is to feed 50,000 people across America during during Thanksgiving.
• 28:21
  So Operation Turkey is a highly organized, nationwide organization that's been around for over two decades.
• 28:29
  But their model is inspirational and successful.
• 28:34
  As I mentioned, they're 100% volunteer run from the 40,000 plus people who help to their leadership.
• 28:45
  Not one person is paid.
• 28:48
  Their mission is to prepare, package, and deliver a massive number of warm Thanksgiving meals.
• 28:54
  Care packages, clothing to the homeless and the less fortunate, often completing the entire mission in a single four-hour window on Thanksgiving Day.
• 29:05
  Now imagine 50,000 people.
• 29:27
  This is on Thanksgiving Day.
• 29:36
  Americans are so cut off from the rest of the world, and it's their time to focus on family, and everybody's sitting down, having their Thanksgiving meals while, you know, it's kind of like the um by uh Charles Dickens, a Christmas Carol, right?
• 29:53
  Umrigally published in December of 1843, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge.
• 30:00
  Right.
• 30:00
  I think sometimes we get this picture that we're all eating our meals and we're in the comfort of our homes while people are outside and they're starving, and we're we're the ebonies or scrooges that are just cutting off all the people who are in need.
• 30:16
  And that's just not the case.
• 30:19
  You know, there are literally millions of Americans who are opening up their homes and they're doing acts of kindness, and there are churches all across America who are taking care of people and they're blessing people.
• 30:34
  I mean, like I said, I'm I'm I'm gonna highlight three different organizations, but there are literally tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of of individuals, churches, uh, organizations, groups.
• 30:48
  Right here's one organization that has 40,000 volunteers.
• 30:55
  Uh right now, today.
• 30:59
  40,000 volunteers just with one organization.
• 31:04
  So you do the math and you multiply that, and you look at the churches that are providing food.
• 31:09
  I know of a lot of churches.
• 31:10
  There are churches in my own community, my local community.
• 31:14
  That on Thanksgiving, they make it a point to make a meal.
• 31:18
  They do a Thanksgiving meal at their church, and they do a full spread.
• 31:24
  They have volunteers, they have people who cook, and this is an annual tradition for them.
• 31:29
  I absolutely love it.
• 31:32
  And this is happening all across America.
• 31:36
  And what's sad to me is that this is not getting covered.
• 31:40
  I looked.
• 31:41
  I looked in in the news for stories like this, and you just don't find it.
• 31:47
  And I don't get it.
• 31:48
  Like, you know, I'm I'm I'm looking at the news for the week.
• 31:54
  You know what the top stories were for this week.
• 31:58
  I mean, if if you open the news, you'll know it's Marjorie Taylor Green submits her resignation.
• 32:07
  And it's all over the news.
• 32:09
  Like this is the top story of the week.
• 32:13
  And at the end of the day, I mean, not to be mean, but who cares?
• 32:19
  If she wants to resign, let her resign.
• 32:23
  Now it's all the speculation.
• 32:25
  Oh, she's resigning on January 5th.
• 32:30
  And there, you know, there are like all the speculative rumors about that's so symbolic.
• 32:36
  And she's sending a message, and now there are rumors that she's running for president and stories that are a published that she's running for president, and then she comes back and says, that's not true.
• 32:47
  I never announced that.
• 32:48
  There's I have no interest at this point, no desire to run for president.
• 32:54
  You know, and back and forth and back and forth, but this like this story has consumed the media.
• 33:03
  Kate Middleton, Royal Rescue Plan.
• 33:07
  Um the drama uh as exprints Andrew stays away, and Kate Middleton and who cares, you know, on and on.
• 33:18
  Democratic senator admits not being aware of Trump illegal orders after a military video.
• 33:27
  On and on and on.
• 33:28
  Johnson says key Trump agenda piece will lead to economic boom next year.
• 33:35
  CDC, um, RFK Jr.
• 33:38
  now supposedly is is behind the order of where the CDC starts uh taking away the link between vaccines and autism or whatever.
• 33:52
  You know, like these stories are the stories that are consuming the media space on Thanksgiving.
• 34:03
  Yeah, leading up to Thanksgiving.
• 34:07
  Uh on and on and on and on.
• 34:10
  I mean, it's just an endless barrage of of these stories.
• 34:16
  Newsom.
• 34:18
  He's starving California of of fossil fuels, and that's hurting the military there.
• 34:26
  I mean, just like over and over and over.
• 34:29
  These are the top stories this week.
• 34:33
  So it's no wonder that Americans sometimes think that there's a there's a big bad world out there, and they just get so angry and they're so irritated, and they're so um disenfranchised.
• 34:51
  And they're so disappointed in other Americans, and everybody's out to disappoint them, and everybody's out to get them, and everybody's out.
• 34:58
  You know, people are paranoid, and they really think that people are out to get them, but the reality is.
• 35:05
  And that's why we highlight this on the show.
• 35:07
  That's why I cover positive stories because the media doesn't.
• 35:12
  Very rarely do you find positive stories in the news.
• 35:15
  Let's just be honest.
• 35:19
  You know, but for Thanksgiving, there's story after story after story.
• 35:24
  I mean, just thousands upon thousands upon thousands of these stories.
• 35:29
  The media can't pick up on one of them.
• 35:33
  Like they they can't just focus on one positive story where people are being fed, and like tons of people being fed.
• 35:46
  So Operation Thanksgiving or Operation Turkey, I mean, uh, I'm looking at their website here.
• 35:51
  You know what's cool too?
• 35:53
  I'm looking at they have national sponsors.
• 35:57
  They have Butterball sparns sponsors them, the AI conference, um, Cisco Route for me.
• 36:10
  Uh let's see, AM Risk Group.
• 36:15
  You know, on and on and on.
• 36:17
  Like they just have tons of sponsors.
• 36:21
  These are the big bad companies that are out to get you.
• 36:25
  And yet they're sponsoring an organization that's 100% volunteer-led that's feeding 50,000 people right now.
• 36:38
  40,000 plus volunteers, not one paid person.
• 36:44
  And then let's look at the numbers.
• 36:46
  A $7 donation feeds two people.
• 36:51
  All the money donated, uh, this right off of their website.
• 36:54
  All the money donated goes directly to purchasing food and supplies for Thanksgiving Day.
• 36:59
  In other words, we don't have company cars, and we don't have all this overhead where 10% of what you give goes to uh goes to food and and the rest goes elsewhere.
• 37:16
  So here, uh meal cost breakdown.
• 37:20
  Our goal is to deliver 50,000 meals on Thanksgiving Day 2025, with each meal costing about $3.50.
• 37:29
  Our estimated food costs are 175,000 dollars.
• 37:36
  This is one organization.
• 37:38
  I love it.
• 37:39
  Uh folks, we're coming up on another break here.
• 37:42
  All of our shows do go to podcasts the next day after the broadcasts heard on talk radio.
• 37:47
  You can find them on your favorite podcast app.
• 37:50
  Be sure to rate the show, subscribe, share it, and when we come back, we'll talk more about the generosity right here in America.
• 37:58
  It is happening right before your very eyes, people.
• 38:02
  Everywhere, and it is fantastic.
• 38:05
  God bless America.
• 38:07
  Visit America Outloud.news.
• 38:10
  We'll be right back.
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• 39:51
  Thanksgiving is a great, great time of year.
• 39:54
  Happy Thanksgiving, by the way.
• 39:56
  It's a great time of year.
• 39:57
  It's a time of year when we can.
• 40:00
  Pull our family together and give thanks to God and think about all the things that we're thankful for.
• 40:07
  And this used to be an annual tradition for many, many years, where I remember growing up, and a microphone was passed around, and everybody was asked, what are you thankful for?
• 40:18
  And I always loved uh that exercise because it really makes you think.
• 40:24
  And you know, I was always thankful for family.
• 40:27
  I was thankful that we had a roof over our head.
• 40:31
  I was thankful for food and water.
• 40:35
  You know, it's the things that we take for granted, and there are a lot of poor people across the world.
• 40:40
  And right here in America, we have a lot of poor people.
• 40:44
  But the thing is, and what we're focusing on today, is that there are people doing something about it.
• 40:51
  Now I know not every poor person is going to be reached.
• 40:54
  Um it's naive to think that that's gonna happen, but there are millions of people who are being fed who would not otherwise be fed because of the generosity of Americans.
• 41:09
  And we're highlighting organizations today that uh that they're helping people, they're helping people not only in their own communities, but across the country.
• 41:19
  And before the break, I was talking about Operation Turkey, and it's a it's an organization that is 100% volunteer-led.
• 41:29
  They have zero paid people on staff, none.
• 41:34
  Which means that 100% of the funds that come in go to purchasing food.
• 41:42
  And I absolutely love that.
• 41:44
  There's no overhead.
• 41:48
  That's unheard of.
• 41:50
  And it's absolutely brilliant.
• 41:54
  So their volunteers work throughout the year.
• 41:57
  They make sure that everything's in place leading up to Thanksgiving to prepare, package, and deliver warm meals, care packages, and clothing donations to those in need in just four hours on Thanksgiving Day.
• 42:13
  That's absolutely like I'm speechless.
• 42:17
  I am absolutely speechless at this point.
• 42:20
  The amount of organization that that takes, the amount of um controlled chaos that that must happen to make this actually take place and happen.
• 42:34
  That's absolutely incredible, incredible.
• 42:36
  Logistically, I can't even I just can't imagine.
• 42:40
  I can't imagine logistically what this looks like to try to organize 40,000 people throughout the year and to uh to make this happen in a four-hour window on Thanksgiving is just it's it's crazy.
• 42:53
  And they keep setting the bar higher each year.
• 42:56
  So this year they said, hey, you know what?
• 42:58
  We're gonna reach 50,000 people across America.
• 43:03
  We're gonna feed 50,000 families or individuals, I guess, 50,000 people, and um the amount of money that they pull in, it's incredible.
• 43:15
  The amount of sponsors they have, it's incredible.
• 43:18
  So their estimated food costs are 175,000.
• 43:25
  That's astounding.
• 43:28
  Um that's inspiring.
• 43:32
  So yeah, very, very cool stuff going on, and it's happening in your own local community.
• 43:38
  I I promise you that.
• 43:40
  There are churches in your local community, there are even individuals who are feeding people.
• 43:46
  But there's another organization.
• 43:48
  I said there were three, and this one is in Washington, D.C.
• 43:53
  Right in the middle of the cesspool, right?
• 43:57
  There's nothing good in Washington City, right?
• 43:59
  Well, wrong.
• 44:01
  There's actually a lot of good in Washington, D.C., and a lot of good people, and a lot of generous people.
• 44:10
  And just because the capital of the nation, and there's a lot of dirty politics that happen, doesn't mean that that there aren't really, really good people.
• 44:20
  So this organization, Bread for the City, it's been around for a while, and they also are providing meals for people, and not just meals, they're working throughout the year, and because they're in Washington, D.C., they get some pretty good funding, which I'm all for.
• 44:39
  I think it's great.
• 44:39
  I think it's fantastic.
• 44:42
  So the mission for bread for the city is to help Washington, D.C.
• 44:46
  residents living with low income to develop the their power to determine the future of their own communities.
• 44:56
  This is right off of their website.
• 44:58
  It's their mission and vision statement.
• 45:00
  We provide food, clothing, medical care, and legal and social services to reduce the burden of poverty.
• 45:09
  We seek justice through community organizing and public advocacy.
• 45:14
  We work to uproot racism, a major cause of poverty.
• 45:19
  We are committed to treating our clients with dignity and respect that all people deserve.
• 45:24
  At Bread for the City, we share a vision of Washington, D.C.
• 45:28
  as a nurturing community where all residents have access to the basic material resources they need for survival and growth and the prosperity of their social, emotional, and spiritual lives.
• 45:42
  I love that.
• 45:44
  I think it's great.
• 45:44
  I think it's fantastic.
• 45:46
  I'm looking at their numbers here.
• 45:48
  They've had um 3,360,154 meals distributed.
• 45:56
  They have 12,900 families given holiday meals.
• 46:03
  They've distributed hundreds of thousands of diapers, 433,700, 1,22 legal services to help people out, uh, thousands of legal information and referrals, um 462 community empowered class attendees, you know, on and on and on.
• 46:32
  And I I just think it's really cool.
• 46:35
  I think it's neat when people are making such a big impact across the nation.
• 46:41
  And here they're doing it locally.
• 46:43
  So for them, bread for the city is specifically helping people, residents of Washington, D.C.
• 46:49
  In fact, people have to bring an ID and prove that they're residents of Washington, D.C.
• 46:55
  And that's fine.
• 46:56
  I don't think that's discriminatory.
• 46:58
  They're just limiting their um their focus to Washington, D.C., they're helping people in their neighborhood.
• 47:06
  That's fantastic.
• 47:07
  They just have a different, I guess a different vision than Operation Turkey.
• 47:14
  And that's fine.
• 47:15
  Operation Turkey, they they their focus is nationwide.
• 47:19
  Bread for the city is their focus is Washington, D.C.
• 47:23
  Perfectly fine.
• 47:25
  Nothing in the world wrong with that at all.
• 47:29
  So as I mentioned, bread for the city has been around for a long time, and um they don't just give out turkeys and meals and things like that.
• 47:37
  I mean, this is a year-round, uh, it's a it's a well-oiled machine.
• 47:41
  They provide a lot of services.
• 47:42
  They have two different centers in the city of Washington, D.C.
• 47:47
  This Thanksgiving, they're serving 17,000 families.
• 47:54
  Um this year, Bread for the City will provide 17,000 culturally inclusive meal kits, each with turkey or chicken, sides, and seasonal produce.
• 48:07
  So every family can celebrate their way.
• 48:11
  Uh we're aiming to raise 1.7 million dollars to make it happen.
• 48:17
  So what they do, and I think this is a really cool idea, but they honor family traditions.
• 48:22
  So instead of just saying, well, we're gonna give you turkeys because this is America, and you know, we do turkeys and murka.
• 48:29
  Um, they're actually catering to people's cultural backgrounds, and I think that's pretty cool.
• 48:37
  So they uh they're kind of sensitive, maybe sensitive isn't the right word, just aware of the cultural differences, and uh they're kind of adapting to the family's specific cultural needs or desires or ones.
• 48:54
  And I think it's just really thoughtful.
• 48:56
  But this organization talk about funding and the corporate sponsors.
• 49:02
  I'm just gonna list off some of them, Amazon, um, Blue Fern Travel, Clark Construction, Care First, Capital One, Covington, Hamilton Hotel, DoorDash, Donahoe, Jones Day, Mars, uh, McGuire Woods, Pillsbury, uh, on and on and on.
• 49:31
  It's pretty cool.
• 49:32
  I mean, lots, lots and lots of sponsors.
• 49:35
  Wegmans.
• 49:38
  Uh, that's really cool.
• 49:39
  So again, it goes back to there's this idea that these big organizations are so greedy and they just they never give and they don't help people out.
• 49:50
  The reality is that our consumerism helps.
• 49:55
  And it's kind of ironic, maybe that's a little bit ironic, but our consumerism.
• 50:00
  Helps fund people living in poverty.
• 50:04
  Because these big organizations end up giving back to uh to the communities.
• 50:09
  And these are big organizations.
• 50:11
  A lot of these are really big organizations.
• 50:15
  So everybody's pitching in.
• 50:17
  And it takes a village.
• 50:18
  You know, it's the old cliche.
• 50:19
  It takes a whole village to raise people together to help out.
• 50:24
  And that's absolutely true.
• 50:28
  So remember that.
• 50:29
  It can begin with the individual, and there are a lot of things that you can do.
• 50:34
  There are a lot of things that you can do for your local community.
• 50:37
  You can bring that up, and I know it's Thanksgiving, and you can't scramble right now and go out and help people.
• 50:44
  But you can continue this tradition.
• 50:48
  Or start a new tradition.
• 50:50
  You can do it throughout the year.
• 50:51
  You can invite one person into your home who you know is living in poverty.
• 50:57
  You can feed them, or you can drop a meal off at their house.
• 51:01
  Next Thanksgiving.
• 51:02
  You can organize a meal.
• 51:04
  I literally, this past Sunday just had one of my church members approach me and he said, hey, this has been on my heart, and I have an idea.
• 51:12
  And he's like, I know it this can't happen for Thanksgiving, but what if for Christmas, maybe Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, we provide a meal for people in the community.
• 51:25
  We host it here at the church building, and we provide a meal for people.
• 51:29
  He's like, Do you think that's do you think we could pull it off?
• 51:32
  And like, not only do I think we could pull it off, I would love to see it happen.
• 51:38
  I would absolutely love to see that happen.
• 51:43
  So I kind of pointed them to some other people, and I said, go talk to these people and uh get back to me and and we'll see if we can't make this happen.
• 51:53
  And I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen.
• 51:57
  And that started with one person.
• 52:01
  It was his idea, it was his passion.
• 52:04
  Uh he happens to be a, I know him really well.
• 52:06
  He happens to be a member who does not take our blessings for granted.
• 52:12
  He's always thinking about other people.
• 52:14
  He goes on mission trips all the time.
• 52:16
  Uh, he funds it himself.
• 52:19
  You know, he's very thoughtful.
• 52:21
  And I absolutely love that.
• 52:23
  And that's what it takes.
• 52:25
  You know, a lot of times people they look down on churches and they they talk about how well they don't really do anything for the community.
• 52:32
  Well, that's just not true.
• 52:34
  I mean, there are so many churches who do things that we just never hear of.
• 52:38
  It's not in the news.
• 52:40
  They don't go, they don't go out and toot their own horns.
• 52:45
  You know, it's not like they're announcing to people what what they're doing.
• 52:49
  They they just quietly do it.
• 52:50
  They just quietly serve.
• 52:52
  So we all have the ability to do that, and that's the hidden lightness.
• 52:57
  You know, that I would love for this Thanksgiving to be a time of reflection, and a time of prayer, and a time for you, the listeners to think about ways to bless people.
• 53:13
  Don't ever set the bar low.
• 53:16
  That's if there's one message that I can ever get across, it's to never set the bar low.
• 53:22
  Don't ever say that you're not capable because dot dot dot.
• 53:28
  Rather flip that around and say, we're completely capable because dot dot dot.
• 53:36
  You know, I've I've I've heard stories of people pitching in and people helping, people bringing people into their homes for Thanksgiving, of churches starting traditions that they never did before.
• 53:50
  It's never too late.
• 53:53
  Well, we've never done that before.
• 53:55
  So what?
• 53:58
  You know what's interesting?
• 54:00
  We've never, to my knowledge, my congregation has never provided a Thanksgiving or a Christmas meal for people.
• 54:09
  Now we've done lots of others.
• 54:11
  We used to do, we used to do a weekly meal for people in the community.
• 54:16
  We'd invite literally people off the street.
• 54:18
  We put up a big banner out in front of the church building.
• 54:20
  We did that for a long time.
• 54:24
  We provided a lot of meals for people.
• 54:26
  It was all volunteers.
• 54:29
  It was all funded by church members.
• 54:32
  We did that for a long time.
• 54:35
  I don't think we ever did it for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but now one of our church members is saying, hey, why don't we uh why don't we do a meal for Christmas, either Christmas Eve or Christmas, uh Christmas Day?
• 54:47
  What do you think of that?
• 54:48
  I think it's a great idea.
• 54:50
  Well, we've never done that before.
• 54:52
  Great.
• 54:54
  That makes it even better.
• 54:56
  Now's the best time to start.
• 54:58
  It all begins with one person.
• 55:01
  One idea, one passionate person.
• 55:04
  That's all it takes.
• 55:07
  And that inspires other people.
• 55:09
  That's the whole point of the hidden lightness.
• 55:11
  That inspires other people and motivates them to serve.
• 55:16
  You can do this.
• 55:18
  We can do this.
• 55:20
  Millions of Americans are doing it every single holiday season.
• 55:27
  And let's extend that.
• 55:29
  Instead of just doing it on the holidays, let's extend that.
• 55:32
  Let's see what we can do once a month.
• 55:35
  How about once a month?
• 55:36
  We invite somebody into our home.
• 55:38
  That's 12 individuals every single year.
• 55:43
  Do you realize what that would do for people?
• 55:47
  Let's be the hidden lightness.
• 55:50
  Let's help shine our light.
• 55:52
  Let's be grateful for the things that God has blessed us with.
• 55:57
  Let's be grateful for our homes and our families and our friends and our neighbors, even our neighbors who are struggling.
• 56:04
  Let's be thankful for them.
• 56:08
  Let's be grateful that there are opportunities to serve them.
• 56:12
  Let's be grateful that God has blessed us in a way that we can think that way.
• 56:20
  That we can gather other people.
• 56:27
  But I love it whenever we can rally people for good causes.
• 56:31
  Let's use it in that way.
• 56:33
  I'm all for it.
• 56:35
  Thumbs up, hyper drive, let's go.
• 56:39
  Look at what Ryan Trahan, you know, Ryan Trahan raised millions of dollars for St.
• 56:47
  Trude's Hospital.
• 56:49
  Absolutely fantastic.
• 56:50
  That's using social media for good.
• 56:54
  It's great.
• 56:54
  It's incredible.
• 56:56
  We're so blessed people.
• 56:58
  Never forget that.
• 56:59
  We are so blessed by God, our creator.
• 57:02
  And my prayer for you is that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
• 57:07
  You enjoy your family time, and that you bless somebody else.
• 57:12
  You can find more out about my show and get all the latest podcasts if you go to the menu navigation bar at AmericaOutLoud.news under our shows or schedule.
• 57:20
  You'll be in the know.
• 57:22
  There is a hidden lightness that shines inside of all of us.
• 57:25
  When there's so much darkness that envelops the world, remember that it doesn't take much light to expose that darkness and to ultimately inspire other people.
• 57:33
  Join me in being a light.