Thanksgiving is a time to gather family and friends to appreciate and enjoy the bounty of the harvest.  And it’s been a really great year — if you happen to work on Wall Street, where CEOs are expecting record bonuses.  But the rest of us are in the trough of the worst economic crisis in a generation.  Millions more Americans are suffering hunger, joblessness and the loss of our homes. 

November brought bleak reports on the state or our economic health.  This month unemployment officially topped 10%, and while job loss has slowed, the economy continues to lose about 200,000 jobs per month.  Meanwhile, nearly 1 in 10 homeowners is delinquent on their mortgage, while home values have dropped an average of 7.1 percent. 

Americans are not only struggling to stay in their houses, but they are also struggling to put food on the table.  A USDA report issued this month shows that 49 million people (14.6 percent of the population), cannot consistently get enough to eat.  Another recent study found that nearly half of all children and 90% of African-American children in the U.S. will receive food stamps at some point during their childhoods.

In times of

Continue reading Giving Thanks in Tough Times