We Have Much To Be Thankful For.

On this Thanksgiving day, we all have much to be thankful for. Those of you who are blessed with good fortune, a home and job security, a family who is there for you through thick and thin and good health are blessed by the graces of God for your well being.

Then come the homeless citizens in America. They too, believe it or not are also blessed. They may not have all the amenities that life has to offer, however, when it comes to homeless shelters and I single out the Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood, FL, these fine HUMAN BEINGS can no longer consider themselves homeless.

They all have a job in one way or another, true, they may not have a single family residence, they may not have enough money to place into a savings account, they may not have an automobile, BUT what they do have is a newfound family of brothers and sisters who have blended into a unique and loving group of individuals and have self-proclaimed themselves as FAMILY.

December 14, 2009 will mark my fifth anniversary with the Homeless Voice Shelter. I have been blessed with the trust of the director, my dear friend, Mr. Sean Anthony Cononie. I have been blessed with the friendship of the residents that occupy the shelter. Although I do not live at the facility, I am part of this organization every day of my life. I look forward to the new challenges that the shelter presents me with and I am so honored and so blessed to have been given this special gift from God....the gift of trying to help those less fortunate than me.

I ask you all on this day of Thanksgiving, to slow down your lives a bit, pause for a moment and think about what all of you have and then thank God and your families for being in your lives and then thank God for allowing formerly homeless people a chance to once again have a home.

This year, as I reflect upon my life as I do each and every Thanksgiving, I thank God for Sean Cononie, my friend and my brother, I thank God for Lily DeCoste, my fiancee, the ONE I have been blessed with for over four and a half years, I thank God for my sister Diane, a Carmelite nun who unselfishly has devoted her life to God and to mankind, my sister Denyse who with her husband Michael has raised such a wonderful family, my brother Gerry who has literally adopted his grandson who is afflicted with autism and has become his number one priority in life other than his wonderful wife Lynne, I thank God that He gives me the opportunity to wake up every morning to try as hard as I can to help the homeless.

My wish to all of you who read my blog is that all of you take the time necessary to be thankful for whatever comes into your lives, no matter how great, no matter how small, be thankful that you have what you have and please be kind and gentle toward the homeless, they are all like you and me, they are human beings, created in God's image and please remember that when God created us ALL, there was no price tag attached to what we became, because when our final judgement day arrives, our riches will only be tallied by what our hearts allowed to store regarding love for mankind.

On behalf of myself, my fiancee, my family and The Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood, FL, please allow me to wish to all of you and your families a blessed Thanksgiving and continued blessings throughout this Holiday season.

Thanks to all of you and may God Bless You All!!!

Ron Gauthier
Advocate for the poor, oppressed and homeless in America.

http://www.helpinghomelessinamerica.blogspot.com/