[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 125 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S10754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 603--DESIGNATING THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2006, AS 
                          ``FEED AMERICA DAY''

  Mr. HATCH (for himself and Mr. Bennett) submitted the following 
resolution; which was:

                              S. Res. 603

       Whereas Thanksgiving Day celebrates the spirit of selfless 
     giving and an appreciation for family and friends;
       Whereas the spirit of Thanksgiving Day is a virtue upon 
     which the United States was founded;
       Whereas, in 2006, great numbers of citizens of the United 
     States continue to suffer hunger and other privations; and
       Whereas selfless sacrifice breeds a genuine spirit of 
     Thanksgiving, both affirming and restoring the fundamental 
     principles of the society of the United States: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) designates Thursday, November 16, 2006, as ``Feed 
     America Day''; and
       (2) calls upon the people of the United States--
       (A) to sacrifice 2 meals on Thursday, November 16, 2006; 
     and
       (B) to donate to a religious or charitable organization of 
     their choice the money that they would have spent on food for 
     that day for the purpose of feeding the hungry.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise to submit a resolution that would 
designate Thursday, November 16, 2006, as ``Feed America Day.''
  The United States today is marked by an economic prosperity 
unparalleled in the world. Every year we gather together as family and 
friends in a great Thanksgiving feast to celebrate the goodness of God 
and the bounty that He has provided us. Unfortunately, not all in this 
world participate in this bounty. There are thousands among us who 
suffer from hunger and want, including far too many children.
  Hunger was something our forefathers who instituted the first 
Thanksgiving feast understood all too well. Nearly half of the small 
band of Pilgrims who first arrived upon the bleak shores of Plymouth on 
December 11, 1620, perished from hunger and sickness that first winter. 
It was only through the generosity and goodwill of friendly native 
inhabitants that the Pilgrims were able to become self-sufficient and 
enjoy a bountiful harvest the following year.
  It is with a sincere desire that others may partake of our plenty, 
that I offer this resolution designating Thursday, November 15, 2006, 
as ``Feed America Day''. That day, before we sit down to our own feasts 
of thanksgiving, I ask that all Americans share their food with their 
neighbors just as the Pilgrims and the Indians shared with one another, 
and all were able to sit down and rejoice together.
  The concept of Feed America Day is very simple. On the Thursday 
before Thanksgiving, I urge every American who is able to fast for two 
meals and give the money saved to a church or charitable organization 
engaged in feeding the hungry. Fasting means to go without food for a 
higher purpose. What higher purpose could there be than to share our 
blessings with those in need? As we feel the hunger for a brief time 
that so many in the world experience every day, we become more 
sensitive to the needs of others. And this strengthened generosity of 
spirit will reverberate throughout our Nation and the world.
  Sarah Josepha Hale, recognized as the Mother of the American 
Thanksgiving, engaged in a nearly 40-year campaign to have Thanksgiving 
accepted as a national holiday. She summed up her vision for this 
holiday in one of her many editorials on the subject published in the 
women's magazine she headed for many years. She wrote, ``Let us 
consecrate the day to benevolence of action, by sending good gifts to 
the poor, and doing those deeds of charity that will, for one day, make 
every American home the place of plenty and of rejoicing. . . . Let the 
people of all the States and Territories sit down together to the 
`feast of fat things,' and drink in the sweet draught of joy and 
gratitude to the Divine giver of all our blessings, . . .''
   This is the purpose of Feed America Day.
  Through this program of fasting and charity, we as a nation can truly 
embody the spirit of Thanksgiving that was amply demonstrated for us 
between the first European settlers to this land and its native 
inhabitants in 1621, and later urged by Mrs. Hale.
  I urge my colleagues to support ``Feed America Day''. It is my belief 
that participating in such selfless sacrifice will breed a genuine 
spirit of Thanksgiving, affirming and restoring the fundamental 
principles that form the foundation of the United States of America.

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