Volunteering for a thankful day

The first American Thanksgiving feast was celebrated over a three-day period in 1621 in Plymouth, Mass., with European settlers sitting down with about 90 Native Americans to meals consisting mostly of wild game and fish.

The fact the settlers were eating anything at all was probably the greatest cause to celebrate that year -- the first winter in Massachusetts had wiped out half of the original Plymouth colonists.

It was a far different time of thanks in America than we find today.

The gratitude expressed around the turkey in 1621 pretty much involved the very basics, such as “Boy, am I thankful I didn’t get the smallpox this year,” and “Boy, am I glad I didn’t starve or freeze to death last January,” and “Gee, am I grateful I ran faster than Bob when that bear was chasing us.”

Times have changed considerably since then, as have the kinds of fortunes for which Huntington Beach residents can count themselves thankful. There are, for sure, more to be grateful for than the gift of life.

We can be grateful for a vast network of volunteers who provide goods and services for families and individuals who are faced with low incomes or who are homeless. Volunteers deliver lunches to older people who can’t leave their homes, not just on holidays but throughout the year. Other volunteers coordinate fundraisers that benefit their churches, the YMCA and local schools to supplement educational materials and equipment.