Thanksgiving and the Salvation Army
As an adult, my Dad Fred Opie Jr. made regular donations to the Salvation Army, especially during Thanksgiving. He made his donations as homage to the work they had done in the Tarrytowns during the Depression when he was growing up. He would periodically say, “If it wasn’t for the Salvation Army, my family would have never survived the Depression.” My Aunt Dot [Dorothy] told me that during the Depression and the war, “I can remember them knocking on the door, and they would bring us food for Thanksgiving . . . when we lived” in a cold water flat down. The Salvation Army is a London based ministry that William Booth started in 1865 to reach out to the poor. During my Dad’s youth in the 1930s and 1940s, the London based Salvation Army provided food relief to needy families in his working class neighborhood. I encourage everyone to give your money and or your time to their ministry this Thanksgiving. With our current economic recession and high unemployment rate, the demand for relief is way up this year and soap kitchens are being overwhelmed for request for people in need. Finally something else you can can do; in the spirit of the Salvation Army, invite someone to eat with your family who you know will otherwise be alone this Thanksgiving.
