Thanksgiving is a scant few weeks away, with Christmas hot on its heels.

Saturday, November 13, 1999

Thanksgiving is a scant few weeks away, with Christmas hot on its heels. Families will gather together to eat large meals and be merry - or at least try to get along – and many people will feel a slight twinge of guilt at the diets they are shattering.

Some people are on enforced diets, however – enforced by poverty and underemployment. Just keeping a sandwich on the table for themselves and their children is a good accomplishment, and if it weren’t for school breakfast and lunch programs, things would be even harder.

The Hormel Foods Corp., will donate ham, a nutritious protein-rich product typically not available through food shelves, to the less fortunate nationwide during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. Echo Lanes bowling alley will tackle the problem on a more local level, sponsoring a food drive Nov. 21 for the Salvation Army Austin Corps emergency food shelves.

Every household in Austin which will set a lavish spread during the holidays is capable of making the holidays a true time of Thanksgiving and hope for those with less. Don’t forget to contribute something for the less fortunate, be it food to the Salvation Army, donations to a favorite charity, or volunteering time. Give a present that will make a real difference.