Giving Thanks by Getting Involved

The streets in Livermore were crowded with more kids on Saturday than we saw trick-or-treating on Halloween.

And there were no tricks, only treats involved.

The Boy Scouts were out gathering up the bags filled with goodies for the annual drive and while I don’t have any firm stats, it looked as if plenty of folks here were generous in their donations.

I left my bag on the front sidewalk before leaving to take part in the at Valley Montessori School on North Livermore. 

(Thanks to .)

Those who signed up to help had offered food and helping hands. It turned into a fantastic family event where children and adults worked together.

When I drove up with my bags, I expected to just park in the lot and walk in – and perhaps make about two trips. Instead, there was a group of elementary-aged kids just waiting for a chance to unload the food and take it inside. Some had Girl and Boy Scout uniforms, but most were just kids eager jump in.

Once inside the building, there were stations set up with children and adults stacking cans of veggies, boxes of dressing and bags of potatoes. Others stood in line with the more than 100 requests for all the essentials for a Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings.

My daughter Amy was one of the team captains, and she enlisted her old high school pal Jenny Adams — home for the holiday from Los Angeles — and her dad Jim. I manned the turkey station with my 6-year-old grandson Jack, who amazed everyone by hoisting frozen turkeys and putting them in the baskets.

I wish I would have snagged some names so that all the people who where there could get some credit, but where would you begin? For every request, there was a family in line who made sure that the right amount of food went into each plastic laundry basket.

There were quite a few requests for just a single person, which prompted one person in line to say, “It’s too bad we can’t get some of these singles together so they could have a dinner together.”

Sad for people who have no one to join them for dinner, but still nice to know they’ll have a dinner to fix. Which made me think of the good work being done each year by our own .

Randy and Lurline Moore have been spearheading this shindig for as long as I can remember, and preparations are in now going on for the 29th annual affair. This is a true community dinner, a free meal for those who can — or cannot — afford their own. It’s about being with people on the holiday for fun, food and conversation. The group even picks up veterans from the VA hospital so they can partake.

As for the Basket Brigade, it turned out that they had extra food — especially turkeys — after all the requests had been filled. So got a little windfall from it all.

And what happened to all those assembled baskets? They were tied up with festive purple cellophane and white ribbon and delivered on Saturday by volunteers, who went as far away as Richmond and San Jose although most stayed right here in the Valley. 

Amy, Jack and I delivered a basket to a family in Livermore. It took both of us to carry the amount of food needed for this family of 7. As we came up to the apartment, a young mom pushing a stroller said it was for her family and she started to tear up. We carried it up three flights to a grateful family who thanked us profusely for the much-needed groceries.

We knew it was going to be a good Thanksgiving for them, and for a lot of people. But especially for all of us who were lucky enough to be able to give some food and time to those who needed it.