My mother was 41 years old when she celebrated her first Thanksgiving in America. That year, she not only made a turkey for our family — she made six.
As pervasive as the holiday is in American culture, experiencing a turkey coma is not a common occurrence in other parts of the world. My mom grew up in northern Thailand, and so the first Thanksgiving she experienced was during the first year our family moved to the United States from Bangkok. She saw the sudden surge in turkey sales at the grocery store and witnessed me returning home from elementary school with new songs and cornucopia crafts from art and music class. Faced with this confusion, our American neighbors and family saw to it that she had the right recipes and tools to make our first Thanksgiving memorable. After a neighbor invited her to participate in a practice run, my mom was off to the races. Beyond the turkey recipes, it began to sink in that this big meal was really a container for pause amidst our busy lives, a time to be present with family and friends, and an opportunity to reflect on the gifts we’ve received — and can give.
As a devout Buddhist, this call toward pause, gratitude and generosity resonated with her own cultural practice of almsgiving in the Buddhist tradition. In Thailand, every major holiday is marked with a mighty preparation of dishes presented to the monks at the local temple as a token of gratitude for the lives of prayer and reflection they lead.
Informed by that practice, my mom decided to make six turkeys that year. One for the local police station, my elementary school, the local library, my piano teacher and the soup kitchen. At first an outsider to the Thanksgiving tradition, she became the embodiment of it. Invited by our neighbors to experience this American pastime, she took that invitation and infused it with the gifts from her own culture. The result: six beautifully golden, stuffed turkeys offered up as tokens of gratitude to our new community. It was Thanksgiving, Thai-style.
Her story reminds me that giving — whether it’s a turkey or a charitable gift — has the power to transform communities. At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), we see this every day. November is a season of gratitude and it’s also a time to think about how we can give back to the places where we live, work and raise our families.
The truth is, our region has incredible potential. A recent University of Minnesota Extension report estimates that households in SMIF’s 20-county region hold a combined net worth of $212 billion and $7 billion of that wealth will transfer from one generation to the next in the next decade. Imagine what could happen if even a fraction of that stayed local — funding education, economic development and community projects that make life better for everyone.
One way to make that vision real is through our local Community Foundations. SMIF serves as the fiscal host for 35 of these volunteer-led foundations, each deeply connected to the unique needs of their towns. They fund projects like upgrades to food shelves, pool passes for youth and weekend backpack programs for children. These are tangible, local impacts made possible by generosity.
And generosity is contagious. As of Nov. 21, SMIF’s Community Foundations collectively raised $69,575 for Minnesota’s “Give to the Max Day” — and donations are still coming in! Every dollar stays local, fueling projects that strengthen our communities.
This holiday season, I invite you to join us in that spirit. Consider contributing to your local Community Foundation or SMIF’s Small Town Endowment Fund. Together, we can harness the wealth and generosity of our region to ensure that southern Minnesota remains a place of abundance, connection and care.
Like my mother experienced during her first American Thanksgiving, may the gratitude we feel for the neighbor who extends us our first turkey call us to make six more to give away.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions. You can reach me at benyak@smifoundation.org or 507-455-3215.