What Is Thanksgiving To You?

According to Wikipedia, Thanksgiving is “An annual national holiday marked by religious observances and a traditional meal including turkey. The holiday commemorates a harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621, and is held in the US on the fourth Thursday in November. A similar holiday is held in Canada, usually on the second Monday in October.”

For each of us, this holiday means something a little different, but generally it’s a time to get together with food and family to celebrate our blessings. This year at the Huntington house, we look forward to seeing our two college students and their appetite for home cooking. We’ll fire up some great board games and have a relaxing day.

It’s a great time of the year to help others too. At Help/Systems, we recently completed a new charity challenge—called “Penny Wars”—to raise money for TreeHouse, a charity that serves the youth of the community.

When I think of the holidays, I often think of how some young people suffer because they lack a caring family. All they really want is a place they can call home, some consistency in their life, and a warm meal. TreeHouse really reaches out to them.

At my daughter’s fifth grade class (yes, we have both a college senior and a fifth grader), this week’s theme is to donate to the local Food Shelf. Monday was dry foods day, so students brought items like rice and flour. Tuesday was breakfast day, and the students brought cereal. Wednesday was vegetable day, so the kids brought canned corn, beans, and other items. It’s a great way to help the local community and it really got our ten-year-old thinking about others.

People worldwide have suffered a lot recently, from tidal waves, earthquakes, and the reactor meltdown in Japan; to hurricanes and tornadoes in the US; to the violent oppression of people in other countries. And, who doesn’t know someone negatively impacted by the downturn in the world economy?

At Help/Systems, we’ve worked hard through these demanding times by improving our products, continuing our excellent support and services, and expanding worldwide. We have a lot to be proud of commercially, but what really makes our executive team proud is seeing our staff fight over which team is going to win the Penny Wars.

Thank you for supporting Help/Systems and making this all possible.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.