Thankful This Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes but two constants during the holiday season are hope and need. I had the good fortune this morning to volunteer alongside more than 50 volunteers at Catholic Charities' in Dorchester and provide a piece of hope amongst those in need.

The head of the line of more than 1,000 residents had formed at 5AM to receive one of 1,500 bags stuffed earlier this week, by hundreds of volunteers, with ingredients for a complete Thanksgiving meal. We were with volunteers from Catholic Charities, State Street Corporation, Putnam Investments, UPS, Dunkin' Donuts, H2O Applied Technologies, The Massachusetts 9/11 Fund and United Way. We were part of a region-wide corps of volunteers who, by midday, had distributed over 5,000 turkey dinners.

As my family and I pitched in, I was struck once again by the many faces of need in our community; families with young children; grandmothers caring for their grandchildren; people who spoke perfect English and others who spoke only Spanish or Creole. There were residents in a hurry to receive the food and head to their job. That's right, many people lining up for their families' dinners have jobs, but the pay just is not enough to make ends meet.

News reports continue to tell us that the this recession is taking its toll-an increasing number of people are out of work longer, and more people are becoming disheartened and simply give up looking for work. The Boston Business Journal recently reported that 114,000 Massachusetts residents are part of the "hidden unemployed." (Full story via Springfield Republican.) If this mass of unemployed residents was factored in to our statewide unemployment average it is reported to rise from 7.3 to 10.6 percent through September. I think more than giving up on work, they are giving up on hope.

Many of us can only do so much to give hope to others, but that is what we can do. There were no world changing events at today's Thanksgiving Project-for the most part life doesn't work that way. It works one by one, step by step.

Life also works best when we work together. Live United is not just a slogan, it can be the way that we get things done in our community. Lots of us can do it---like Stop & Shop, Goya Foods, The Greater Boston Food Bank and C&S Wholesale Grocers who donated almost all of the food for today. Or like the members of Boston's private equity community who chipped in with financial support and volunteer time. Or like the people who have been homeless themselves that were helping out today.

We really are better when we are together. Happy Thanksgiving as we kick off the season of being together and helping together.