Amid challenges in our personal lives, the continuing divisiveness in the country and the myriad of problems around the world, it can sometimes be difficult to avoid losing sight of the things for which we can be thankful.
The approaching Thanksgiving holiday is an opportunity for us to focus on the good. I reached out to individuals I’ve interviewed and asked what they are most thankful for this year and to share their favorite Thanksgiving dishes and traditions. Here is what they shared.
Twanita “Twinkie” Burnett, founder of The Purrfect Datenite Experience, which produces romantic date night events for couples, says she is thankful her daughter is doing better after she had been a little down recently.
She also is grateful for the change in her own love life.
“Someone was able to come in and open my heart again,” she shared. “We’ve known each other for some years. We’d never crossed the lines of dating.”
Then they did.
“It’s going great,” she said.
The Richton Park resident is also thankful for the work she does as an independent living coach.
“I work with mentally challenged older adults,” she said. “It’s a job I’m proud to go to, and I have a great supervisor.”
She said, “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, period. In my family we go really big for Thanksgiving. We get together, play games, eat, share what we’ve been doing throughout the past year. It’s a really good time.”
One of the family’s traditions is playing the game Taboo.
“We are very competitive at Taboo,” she said laughing. “That is our family game. We get our teams, give our teams names. We are serious. Whoever wins has bragging rights for the next year.”
Deshawn Willingham, owner of Chicago Urban Farm Solutions, views Thanksgiving as a controversial holiday, but says he has chosen to give it his own meaning.
“The concept of Thanksgiving is really important to me,” he said. “The Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, after Juneteenth, are my two favorite holidays. Thanksgiving is a time when the family comes together and shares what is important to them. On a personal level I’m thankful for my family and the love and support I’ve gotten from them.
“On a professional level I’m very happy that we had a great year at the farm and that we were able to reach so many people this year with the produce that we grow.”
Chicago Urban Farm Solutions, which has a 20-acre site in Lynwood, produced 58,352 pounds of produce from January through June of this year. That was up from 27,400 during the same period a year ago, Willingham said.
His farm business, which makes donations to food pantries, built two greenhouses in the past year, bringing the total to four.
“Our concept is with every greenhouse that we build we will be able to add additional food pantries to our donations,” he said.
He’s thankful he’s now donating to four pantries and he’s planning to add two more greenhouses to the business by spring of next year, which would position him to donate to two more pantries bringing the total to six, he said.
Dr. Shelley Amuh, an obstetrician and gynecologist and founder of The Puddle Project, a nonprofit that runs a mentorship program for pregnant teens and teen parents, said she is grateful “all our girls are doing very well. I’m really proud of them being able to navigate school and parenting and all the other societal things we have to deal with. I’m really thankful for them.
“I’m thankful for the fact that we have great mentors who have fallen in love with their mentees and established wonderful relationships. They go above and beyond to make sure their teen mentees are safe and well and academically sound.”
On a personal level, the Flossmoor resident said, “I’m most thankful for my family, thankful that we are all here in the Chicago area. We’re all safe, all doing great things.”
Aisha Barnes, president of the Joliet Area/South Suburban Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., said she is thankful for the overall health of her family and friends.
She is also thankful the Delta chapter marked its 50th year this year.
“That was truly a blessing,” she said. “I’m thankful for all the people who came to celebrate with us, who supported us. This whole year has been a great year for us to reflect on the impact we’ve had on the south suburbs and what we wish for our organization to do moving forward.”
The chapter has 515 members and its community service work includes partnering with Blessings in a Backpack to help provide weekend meals to food insecure students in the south suburbs. The organization’s KISS 100 program, an acronym for Kindness in Service and Sisterhood, annually conducts a Midwest Impact Day of Service.
Barnes’ favorite Thanksgiving dish is macaroni and cheese and her favorite dessert, far and above, is sweet potato pie made from her grandmother’s family recipe, she said. She treasures the Thanksgiving holiday.
“For me, one of the most important things is it’s not about anything commercial,” she stressed. “It’s truly about getting together, the family, friends, fellowship and the feast. It’s just the simple things in life that bring you together.”
Rashidah Muhammad, professor of English and secondary education at Governors State University, is thankful for her faith and prayer. Among her answered prayers was her husband’s recent safe return from a trip to Turkey, she said. She’s also thankful that the approaching holiday will mean tables in the dining room, living room and kitchen will be filled with her loved ones.
Among her family’s Thanksgiving traditions is praying before the meal and having everyone share the things for which they are thankful.
“Even the little ones have to share, the 2-year olds and the 5-year olds,” she said. “They might just say, ‘I’m glad I’ve got mommy,’ but it’s just that time of thinking, reflecting and sharing with each other. That’s the important part for me. I think what that message sends to us, if we take that back home with us, back to our jobs, our communities, hopefully, God willing, we’ll have a better year.”
As for me, I’m grateful to God and for the love and support of family, friends and colleagues who’ve helped sustain me during some difficult times these past few months. I’m also thankful that my niece, who’d tried unsuccessfully for several years to have a child, gave birth to a healthy baby girl earlier this year. My heart is filled with gratitude for having had the opportunity to join her and her husband at the baby’s dedication earlier this month.
I’m also thankful my goddaughter, who was on the organ transplant list for a kidney, underwent successful kidney transplant surgery this year. I’m looking forward to attending her wedding in the spring.
Most importantly, I am grateful for my husband, Michael, the love of my life, who is my rock!
I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
