Thanksgiving is about recognizing our blessings and being grateful for them! And in some ways, for many of us, this has morphed into extravagance in all things food and flourish. We pile our tables high with more food than any family can manage and purchase decorations, many of which won’t last longer than this season’s holiday, to display our bounty. At least we used to. This year will look different for many people in our country.

Because of the financial fallout of the pandemic, many will struggle to get a Thanksgiving meal on the table this year. We are worried about our health and the health of our loved ones. May will be missing the familiar company of friends and family. This Thanksgiving, will be any thing but normal.

So, it is also an opportunity to do things a bit differently. This year, at Toward Zero Waste, we are doing just that.

Firstly, instead of piling our Thanksgiving tables high with food that runs the risk of becoming waste when we tire of leftover turkey and sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, we will be tuning our tables down to having enough, and being ever so grateful for that. We will reach out to those who are suffering this Thanksgiving, and make sure they have enough, too. You probably know of a family who is struggling… so many are without jobs right now. If not, find an organization that is connected to some of the local need, and support that organization.

Secondly, we will reach out to friends and family whose faces, voices and touch we have been missing during this time of separation. We will let them know we miss their company, and look forward to a time when we can be together again. We will let them know what we hope to have learned from this part of our curriculum: that the material is not what matters, that breaking the laws of nature causes destruction, and that so often, when it comes to what matters most, we already have more than enough.

And lastly, we will take time to express our sincere gratitude to those who make our work at Toward Zero Waste possible, members, donors, partners and volunteers!

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Toward Zero Waste has made great strides in educating the community on issues of waste and environment. We have taken real steps to find solutions to some of these issues locally, and we have grown the conversation around waste locally.

This is because MEMBERS of our community have responded to the call to move toward zero waste. You have joined our groups and the conversation. Our message has resonated with you and you have helped to share the message and keep the conversation going! You respond to our calls to action and help amplify our message so that our message is not ours alone, but a clear message from the community that we must do better.

Some members of this amazing community have taken a further step, when able, to support our work through your monetary donations. These DONORS have enabled us to secure films to screen and discuss virtually.

We also have PARTNERS to thank! These like-minded businesses support us through small sponsorships or through helping build a circular “toward” zero waste economy in our area. Without them, a move to zero waste would be much more difficult!

And our biggest heroes are our VOLUNTEERS!! Honestly, Dargan and I worked alone for quite some time. We made some progress but had many ideas and too little man-power to make those ideas a reality.

From moderating our city facebook groups to blog writing to data collecting, to planning activities, screenings, panels, and classes, to organizing meetings and tabling at events, to showing up to support our events, to sitting on our board, our volunteers are the engine that drives this important work! It feels entirely inadequate to say a simple “thank you”, yet tokens of recognition are just that, tokens. So we hope you feel our expressed gratitude and also the magnitude of what your time and effort are doing to better your corner of the world.

We are so grateful for you!