page_title: Thanksgiving (United States)
section_title: Charity
hierarchical_section_title: Thanksgiving (United States) / Traditional celebrations / Charity
caption_attribution_description: English: People arrive at the WOW Hall in Eugene, Oregon, for complimentary Thanksgiving dinner
context_page_description: Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It originated as a harvest festival, and to this day the centerpiece of Thanksgiving celebrations remains Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner traditionally consists of foods and dishes indigenous to the Americas, namely turkey, potatoes, squash, corn, green beans, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is regarded as being the beginning of the fall–winter holiday season, along with Christmas and the New Year, in American culture.
  The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. This feast lasted three days, and—as recounted by attendee Edward Winslow—was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings" days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought. Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, with a proclamation by President George Washington after a request by Congress.
context_section_description: The poor are often provided with food at Thanksgiving time. Most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving dinners. The Salvation Army enlists volunteers to serve Thanksgiving dinners to hundreds of people in different locales. Additionally, pegged to be five days after Thanksgiving is Giving Tuesday, a celebration of charitable giving.
caption: Hungry diners line up outside a church for a free Thanksgiving meal in Eugene, Oregon, in 2013
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