Share your "Thanksgiving" Recipe

What’s your recipe?

Everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving seems to have ingredients that are essential. What are your favorites? Maybe it’s Grandma’s special dressing, or pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Do you try new recipes or stick with the tried and true?

What other “ingredients” make Thanksgiving Day special for you? Is it running or walking in the IRIS Turkey Trot, is it volunteering with loved ones at the Free Thanksgiving Day Meal before you sit down to your own dinner, the family board games, or the football games on TV? All of these traditions help make Thanksgiving special for families around Faribault.

And there’s one more ingredient that matters most of all:

Gratitude.

The holiday name itself calls for it. Whether your gathering includes the “go-around-the-room-and-share-something-you’re-thankful-for” moment, or if gratitude is unspoken but overflowing from your heart, it’s truly the essential element of Thanksgiving Day.

Psychology Today’s Amy Morin recently wrote about seven scientifically proven benefits of gratitude:

1.      Gratitude opens the door to more relationships. Saying “thank you” not only shows good manners—it helps build new friendships.

2.      Gratitude improves physical health. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and report feeling healthier. They also tend to take better care of themselves.

3.      Gratitude boosts psychological health. It reduces toxic emotions like envy, resentment, frustration, and regret.

4.      Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression. Grateful people show more kindness, empathy, and forgiveness—even when others don’t.

5.      Grateful people sleep better. Spending just 15 minutes writing down things you’re thankful for before bed can help you sleep better and longer.

6.      Gratitude improves self-esteem. Grateful people focus less on comparisons and more on appreciating others’ successes.

7.      Gratitude increases mental strength. It reduces stress and helps build resilience—even during hard times.

I like to think I have an attitude of gratitude. I’m especially thankful for the generous people who have built the funds of the Faribault Foundation. We are deeply grateful for the donors who have trusted us with their gifts and support. Through their philanthropy the Faribault Foundation established 13 new funds this year.

One fund of the foundation, the Thanksgiving Day Meal Fund, supports the Free Thanksgiving Day meal organized annually by community philanthropists Laura and Travis McColley. This event provides a free meal for anyone on Thanksgiving Day. We would be so grateful for donations of any size to help cover the cost of supplies.

Another fund, No Tummies Left Behind, supports local efforts to overcome food insecurity every day. As many of us gather to feast this Thanksgiving, a donation to help others feed their loved ones would be a wonderful act of gratitude.

Donations to these and other funds can be made on our website or by contacting the Faribault Foundation directly.

My Thanksgiving wish for you is that you experience all the benefits of gratitude this season. And I’d love the opportunity to tell you more about the Faribault Foundation—give me a call, and maybe we can even exchange recipes!

Laura Bock Executive Director, Faribault Foundation507-805-8800 | LauraBock@FaribaultFoundation.org

(Quoted research by Amy Morin, Psychology Today, licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and expert on mental strength.)