The Today Show, that long-running staple of NBC’s morning programming, usually presents a good Thanksgiving show (leading as it does into NBC’s coverage of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, hosted by the anchors of The Today Show) and this year’s program was no exception. One reason I enjoy Today’s Turkey Day edition is there’s plenty of coverage of folks helping out those in need. Out of that focus has grown what has become a wonderful tradition: Starting in 1999, Today has interviewed two remarkable children from Boston, MA, Dan and Betsy Nally, every year on Thanksgiving Day. In 1996, Dan and Betsy started a grassroots effort to feed the hungry when they heard on the TV news that the local food bank was short 5000 turkeys for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Today, we have watched these dedicated children grow up (Betsy is now a senior in high school and Dan is a sophomore at Harvard) as each year the siblings talk about their charitable efforts and how people from all over have joined in. The Nallys’ organization is Turkeys 4 America (it was originally called Turkeys R Us but I suspect the kids heard from the legal department of a certain toy store chain). If you want to find out more before we see this inspiring brother and sister next Thanksgiving on Today, you can visit their website.
While it's nice that the Nallys are feeding poor people for the holidays, it would be a refreshing counterpoint if the TODAY show did a report on the over one million Americans who decide to forego the "traditional" Thanksgiving turkey in favor of a cruelty-free option such as Tofurky. Maybe more people would then realize that an animal doesn't have to die in order to for people to celebrate the holiday.
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