While Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for family and everything in life, what about people who are homeless or just don’t have the money to buy food for Thanksgiving dinner? They are most likely at a soup kitchen enjoying the food that is given to them and having fun with the people around them, while we are eating an immense amount of food and watching football.

In today’s society everyone is consumed in their lives and what they are doing; they don’t stop to think about others. Growing up, kids are told by their parents to think about others and not just themselves, but this lesson seems to go away around the holidays. If this lesson goes away during the holidays, where does that leave us? We are taught that the first Thanksgiving occurred because the Pilgrims were thanking the Indians for teaching them how to grow crops in the new world, and despite knowing this even if it isn’t accurate, people often forget about giving back.

Some claim to not have the money to donate cans to a food drive in their school or give back in their local community. The “we don’t have enough money” excuse isn’t valid because a can of green beans costs about 68 cents and an order of fries at Chick-fil-A is about $1.35. In order to solve the “not having enough money” excuse, don’t eat out one night, and give the money that would’ve been spent on a meal eating out back to the community. People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars eating out each year. Imagine spending that money on food for people who can barely afford a loaf of bread. That money could help pay for their food, which may not seem like a lot but is more than they usually receive.

Giving cans to a food drive isn’t enough. Just a few weeks ago we took part in the Stuff the Pantry food drive and donated 15,000 food items and 67 turkeys, but there is still more that can be done. While that is a significant amount of food, there are still people who will spend Thanksgiving without food. Other than donating to a can drive, volunteer at a soup kitchen and even spend Thanksgiving with them. Going into Thanksgiving, keep in mind that there is something we can all do to help those in need.

Take a minute to stop and consider all of the people who don’t have the same privileges as as most of us. Have you ever done anything to help them? We need to remember to give back to the society that we live in, whether that is by donating to a can food drive or volunteering at a soup kitchen.

Nowadays in our society, everyone should give back to the community in some small way. In reality, it isn’t that big of a deal for everyone to give up a Saturday morning to help put a smile on someone’s face that doesn’t have a reason to smile.