Thanks & Giving

In a few days we celebrate both Thanksgiving and the 10^th anniversary of a program called “Thanks & Giving All Year Long.”   Started by Marlo Thomas, whose birthday is today, it provides ongoing support for the wonderful work of St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital – the world’s leading center for research on treating catastrophic illnesses in children.

In 2004 Thomas had the idea of writing a children’s book and album that would both inspire young people and help fund St. Jude’s work. For her effort Thomas won a Grammy Award; but more importantly she started a project that may go on for decades, continuing to both inspire kids and draw attention to St. Jude’s – which was founded by her father Danny Thomas.

 

While winning a Grammy would be a capstone of some artists’ careers, it was only one of many, many awards for this tireless actress and writer, who has received four Emmys, a Golden Globe, the George Foster Peabody Award, and the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 

 

Marlo Thomas

Thomas, by the way, also wrote a 1983 children’s book/album called Free To Be … You and Me.  Its major thematic message is that anyone—even a child—can achieve anything.  That book/album has sold three-quarters of a million copies and is still going strong – every dime of profit going toward major causes supporting children and families.

“My father said there are two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers,” Thomas noted.  “The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.”   Definitely a focal point for writers, and a Thanksgiving reflection for us all.

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