I am Thankful.

I can’t believe that it’s Thanksgiving week. I was just out today shopping for extra sides for Thursday’s meals and waiting in line at the supermarket longer than usual with others who had the same plans. I was planning on buying my turkey today, however my son came home from school with the basic essentials for a Thanksgiving meal. I’m assuming that because of the hurricane, there must have been holiday donations given out at the school. I’ve gotten rolls, sweet potatoes in a can, corn, carrots, a turkey, and Stove Top stuffing. I guess it does make sense since my neighborhood is basically a disaster area and there have been a tremendous amount of donations given in the area. Since things are tight at the moment, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I’ve taken a picture of the corn and carrots in the can because I did not recognize the logos or brand names. The carrots brand name is Happy Harvest and the corn is from Foodtown. Foodtown does sound a bit familiar but I couldn’t place it. I did a search and Foodtown is the name of a supermarket, which is around certain areas of NYC, but not around me. Happy Harvest is a brand name from the Aldi supermarkets, which have several stores in the local New Jersey area.

It’s also hard to see in the picture but the turkey brand is Round Hill, a brand that can locally be found in Wegman’s supermarket, which are also located in New Jersey. After completing this small sleuthing, it occurred to me that this food was donated here from surrounding areas looking to help out people affected by Hurricane Sandy. I think it shows the goodness in people, which is something to be thankful for, whether or not you see the generosity up close and personal.

I now also see the eagerness of others wanting to help with my new job. There are people making food and serving it for free near where I work. It helps the neighborhood because there are still people in the immediate area without power. People I work with and others who are cleaning up the area get free lunch willingly from these awesome people.

I started this week as part of park and beach cleanup, which has fellow coworkers and I relocating sand due to extreme beach erosion. The job is pretty tough and our crew is slowly getting smaller, but my body is adjusting to the work and I really like what the primary goal is. For the past year, I have been running on the boardwalk and bike paths in this area, but can no longer do so due to the storm. It was quite depressing to see all the damage in the area and a complete sense of normalcy will not come until the park and beach reopens.

Sand from the beach on the nearby street.

It’s also the tiredness of my job that has made me miss a few days of posting for Feastmas, but I plan to post daily until Thanksgiving, one of my most favorite holidays ever. It’s only three more posts left until Feastmas is over and I really want to get a few more articles in. Nothing specific, but just to celebrate Thanksgiving my way.

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Tags: Aldi, Foodtown, New York City, Sandy, Thanksgiving