Remember giving in Thanksgiving

As you head home to your family and friends for holiday celebrations, keep in mind the people among us who are hungry and homeless. They are in each of our communities, from Sioux City to Iowa City from Council Bluffs to Cedar Rapids.

If you take a walk around Cedar Rapids or Iowa City early in the morning, you are likely to meet people without a home trying to keep warm in stairways and parking ramps, The same is true in other communities around Iowa and beyond.

Groups like the Catholic Worker, Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army have been providing food and shelter for individuals and families all over the US for many years. There are also locally-grown groups which can use your help, including: Shelter House and Crisis Center in Iowa City, John Lewis Coffee Shop organization in Davenport, Reggie's Place Coffee Shop in Des Moines and The Banquet in Sioux Falls. A gift to one of these agencies is especially helpful during the holiday season.

CONSIDER A GIFT OF

LISTENING, TOO

Nourishment comes not only from food. It also comes from being recognized, acknowledged and listened to. Bill Sackter had a gift for this. In the coffeeshop and on the bus, he listened to all who wanted to be heard. His example is something we can learn from in our own lives.

There are so many opportunities for us to listen. They often come when we least expect or when we do not feel "ready."

Anna taught me that. She first called me when I was a newspaper reporter. It was the second day of Hanukkah and she was terribly depressed. She missed her family and friends and wasn't able to get to the synagogue anymore.

Why did she call me? Her reply: I get your paper and thought you might listen. It wasn't exactly an opportune moment (my deadline was two hours away) and frankly I didn't know what to say.

But she didn't want me to talk, she wanted me to listen. So I listened. After an hour or so, she said thank you, Happy Hanukkah, and goodbye.

The next year she called again during Hanukkah. You listened to me last year, she said, so I figured you probably would again.

These calls became a Hanukkah tradition. After several years, she told me that she had been so depressed the first year that she'd been considering turning on the gas and killing herself. "But I didn't because you listened," she said.

Anna died a natural death more than a dozen years after her first call. But her lesson about listening has stayed with me. I suppose our opportunities to listen aren't usually so dramatic. But one never knows.