'I have to give thanks': Utah's homeless offer their take on Thanksgiving

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Volunteers worked together to serve Thanksgiving meals to Utahns in need Thursday.
• The Salt Lake City Mission and Salvation Army provided around 2,000 turkey meals.
• A Salvation Army volunteer emphasized the importance of community service and helping those in need.

SALT LAKE CITY — Kirya Miles, who is currently living at a Salt Lake City shelter for the homeless with her two young sons, may be going through a rough patch in life, but she's still thankful.

"I have to give thanks," she said Thursday at VIVA Church in Salt Lake City, where she was eating a turkey meal at a Thanksgiving banquet hosted by the Salt Lake City Mission. Without the assistance of the varied charitable groups that help her and her family, she said, "We wouldn't have anything to eat, anything to drink."

She's also thankful at an even more basic level. "I give thanks personally just to be alive, be with my boys. Some people will just give up on everything. I can't," Miles said.

Life can throw plenty of curveballs, but there's always room for gratitude, and attendees at the Great Thanksgiving Banquet hosted each year by the Salt Lake City Mission offered thoughts on the good in their lives.

Chris Gibson, like Miles and others, said she's thankful just to be on Earth, noting ongoing health battles she's been facing.

"I'm thankful for the air I breathe, to still be alive," she said. "I'm trying hard to live instead of trying hard to die."

Gibson is also thankful for her five daughters, she said. She plans to keep plugging away — whatever the obstacles she faces — no matter her current circumstances. She's battling three terminal illnesses and living at a shelter.

"As much as it's hard, it's the best I have ... I will keep pushing on," Gibson said.

Many, like Chris Fox, offered thanks for the help offered by the Salt Lake City Mission and other groups that assist and provide resources to those experiencing homelessness. He is temporarily living in a shelter after suffering a health emergency while working — but hopes to soon be back on his feet, back at work.

"These organizations — they're phenomenal. They do amazing things," Fox said. "Organizations like this, they give hope."

The Salt Lake City Mission has been offering a free Thanksgiving banquet for more than 30 years, according to Shawn Clay, director of the charitable organization. It's meant for those who can't afford a turkey dinner, the homeless and others who may not have anywhere else to go. He expected to serve around 1,000 turkey meals throughout the course of the day Thursday.

"Everybody deserves a Thanksgiving meal regardless of their situation and circumstances," he said. "If you bring them into this space, there's friendship, community."

An opportunity 'to do service'

Volunteers with the Salvation Army in Salt Lake City were also busy on Thursday, readying meals for those in need. The organization helps box and deliver around 1,000 meals every Thanksgiving to clients of Meals on Wheels, which doesn't operate on the holiday.

"I think it's really important for those of us who have time to be able to serve, so no one is left alone or lonely on Thanksgiving Day," said Lt. Kate Combs, a corps officer for the charitable organization.

Participants in a high school culinary arts program prepare the food while a crew of around 200 volunteers boxes the meals and delivers them around Salt Lake County to clients of Meals on Wheels, which serves homebound seniors.

Kathy Cline of Sandy and numerous members of her extended family help in the effort each year, now a family tradition.

"I think a good part of it is helping our kids understand not everyone has as much as we have," she said. "It's an opportunity for all of us to do service."

The effort has an impact, Cline said, recalling a food delivery she made one year to a homebound man who was ecstatic at the visit and the turkey meal. "I got kissed by a 98-year-old man one year," she said.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

Related topics

Utah homelessnessUtahPoliticsSalt Lake County

Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL.com. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.