AYFR
11-21-2007, 05:56 AM
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 21, 2007
People often acknowledge how inadequate they feel by simply saying "Thank you" when they want to express abundant gratitude.
Yet sitting around Thanksgiving tables this week, families and friends are uttering that brief statement in comments and prayers as they review their many reasons for being thankful.
In the best world, genuine gratitude might come from a person who does not know from day to day where they will sleep or find their next meal. Yet because of the kindness of others, that person sits before a full plate of scrumptious eatables this Thanksgiving and bows his head to say, "Thank you."
Organizations and individuals all over town began their season of giving and self-examination as we moved through the fall and toward the end of this year. Families displayed it during Ramadan in September and this week during Thanksgiving, and they'll continue it through Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's.
The S.M. Wright Foundation is one of many examples of giving that may prompt echoes of "thank you." The foundation is serving its annual Thanksgiving Day meal today for people who live on the streets of the South Dallas/Fair Park community.
Meals will be served from 9 a.m. to noon today at People's Missionary Baptist Church, which operates the foundation, 3119 Pine St., where the Rev. S.M. Wright II is senior pastor and foundation president.
Giving often increases once a group or person begins to respond to a need. The Wright Foundation served 50 individuals in its early years less than a decade ago and today expects to serve more than 2,000, Mr. Wright said in media information about the meals.
The foundation will serve the dinners and also give groceries so people don't leave empty-handed.
"Each year, the count has continued to grow," Mr. Wright said in his statement. "No one leaves without being fed and having groceries to take with them."
The foundation honors the life work of Mr. Wright's father, the Rev. S.M. Wright Sr., who died in 1994 and left his two sons, S.M. II and Calvin Wright, as co-pastors of People's Missionary. The elder Mr. Wright built People's, was an influential Dallas civic and political leader and led a coalition of ministers as president of the Interdenominational Ministers Alliance. The state named a four-mile stretch of South Central Expressway between Interstate 45 and Loop 12 in his honor in 1995. For more information, call 214-421-109
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-wadecol_21met.ART.State.Edition1.37344f6.html
People often acknowledge how inadequate they feel by simply saying "Thank you" when they want to express abundant gratitude.
Yet sitting around Thanksgiving tables this week, families and friends are uttering that brief statement in comments and prayers as they review their many reasons for being thankful.
In the best world, genuine gratitude might come from a person who does not know from day to day where they will sleep or find their next meal. Yet because of the kindness of others, that person sits before a full plate of scrumptious eatables this Thanksgiving and bows his head to say, "Thank you."
Organizations and individuals all over town began their season of giving and self-examination as we moved through the fall and toward the end of this year. Families displayed it during Ramadan in September and this week during Thanksgiving, and they'll continue it through Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's.
The S.M. Wright Foundation is one of many examples of giving that may prompt echoes of "thank you." The foundation is serving its annual Thanksgiving Day meal today for people who live on the streets of the South Dallas/Fair Park community.
Meals will be served from 9 a.m. to noon today at People's Missionary Baptist Church, which operates the foundation, 3119 Pine St., where the Rev. S.M. Wright II is senior pastor and foundation president.
Giving often increases once a group or person begins to respond to a need. The Wright Foundation served 50 individuals in its early years less than a decade ago and today expects to serve more than 2,000, Mr. Wright said in media information about the meals.
The foundation will serve the dinners and also give groceries so people don't leave empty-handed.
"Each year, the count has continued to grow," Mr. Wright said in his statement. "No one leaves without being fed and having groceries to take with them."
The foundation honors the life work of Mr. Wright's father, the Rev. S.M. Wright Sr., who died in 1994 and left his two sons, S.M. II and Calvin Wright, as co-pastors of People's Missionary. The elder Mr. Wright built People's, was an influential Dallas civic and political leader and led a coalition of ministers as president of the Interdenominational Ministers Alliance. The state named a four-mile stretch of South Central Expressway between Interstate 45 and Loop 12 in his honor in 1995. For more information, call 214-421-109
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-wadecol_21met.ART.State.Edition1.37344f6.html