Gobble, Gobble up these fun facts!

Wow, what a great day to learn new things!

**A couple weekends ago, a few of us went to Chicago, Illinois and spent a Saturday passing out fliers for a church, making conversations with passerbys, and enjoying some deep dish Chicago-style pizza. While talking to one homeless man, Darnell, I realized how much I take my education for granted. I've had the opportunity to be educated for nearly 15 years now. For most of these years, I have not appreciated my education, nor have I thought about how grateful I should be for the encouragement and financial support from my family to be attending college. When Darnell found out that we were all college students, he thought it was awesome that we were in school, and he shared with us about how he wished he had had a chance to go to school. At that point, I learned how truly blessed I am to be attending school and working towards a great education.


Fun Facts about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
- If you laid every parade balloon since 1927 end to end they would stretch from Battery Park City to the Cloisters (approx. 12 miles I think?)
- Due to a helium shortage in 1958, the balloons are brought down Broadway on cranes.
- Santa Claus has ended the parade every year except 1933, the only year in which he led the parade.
- Macy's is the world's second largest consumer of helium. The United States government is the first

Fun Facts about Thanksgiving
- The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.
- The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817.
- Californians are the largest consumers of turkey in the United States.
- Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
- A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds.
- Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.
- $1 is the average cost per pound in of a frozen whole turkey.

...Well that's all for this Thanksgiving Day (at least for now). Keep your heart open today and think (and pray) often for those who are spending today without family, friends, a home, and/or food.

-Melissa