As we march toward a late Thanksgiving and a short holiday shopping season, lots of folks have reason to be thankful.
Starting with the hundreds scooped up by federal agents during “Operation Midway Blitz.” A judge ruled last week that undocumented immigrants were targets of “warrantless” arrests and ordered them freed. At least for the time being.
The millions of low-income Americans dependent on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should be getting the benefits they need for daily meals after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended last week. The “food stamp” program, started in 1964, supports about 42 million Americans, nearly 1 in 8 of us, in order to help purchase groceries.
Perhaps the power of prayer helped in both these instances. Nothing wrong with asking for a little hope from our higher beings. Who doesn’t need a bit of that now and then?
Faith and religious freedom have played major roles in the nation’s history. It is a core foundation of the republic, declared so in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Exchange Club of Gurnee continues that faith tradition by hosting the annual One Nation Under God Breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m. on Nov. 25 at the Village Church of Gurnee, 1319 N. Hunt Club Road. Co-sponsored by other Exchange Clubs in Lake County — Round Lake area, Grayslake, Zion, Waukegan and North Chicago– the event is free and open to the public.
The prayer breakfast is observed annually during the week of Thanksgiving. Turkey day this year is Nov. 28. President George Washington first came up with an official celebratory “day of public thanksgiving and prayer” at the founding of the nation.
But it was President Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed the first official Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 26, 1863. The Illinoisan’s presidential proclamation was in response to the bloody Union victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July of 1863, and after delivering his famed Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19 of that year. The annual day of Thanksgiving became official in 1941 during the term of President Franklin Roosevelt.
This year’s One Nation Under God Breakfast will feature the presentation of colors by the Gurnee Fire Department Honor Guard; recognition of Tom Yencich, 2024 Gurnee Police Officer of the Year, along with Howard Thomas, 2024 Police Civilian of the Year; and guest speaker Pete Helfers, director of curriculum and instruction for Gurnee Grade School District 56.
Organizers say Helfers has been instrumental in honoring veterans in all District 56 school buildings on Veterans Day, and supporting fundraisers for Honor Flights, which take veterans to Washington, D.C., for a day of touring the nation’s memorials. To that end, the Exchange program will recognize military veterans, with Wayne Messmer, former long-time public address announcer for the Chicago Cubs, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America”.
The Exchange Club is a national service organization working together to make communities better through programs of service in Americanism, community service, youth activities, and its national project, the prevention of child abuse.
Many may disagree with President Donald Trump, but like our other leaders, he, too, believes prayer can help. “The stories of legends like Washington, Winthrop and Williams remind us that without faith in God, there would be no American story,” he said earlier this year, pointing to President Washington, and U.S. religious leaders John Winthrop and Roger Williams. “Every citizen should be proud of this exceptional heritage,” Trump said.
Winthrop helped found the Massachusetts Bay Colony after fleeing England to the New World in 1630 following persecution of Puritans, Protestants who thought the Church of England remained tied to Catholicism, during the reign of King Charles I. Winthrop’s son, also John, was one of the founders of the Bay Colony’s nearby Connecticut Colony.
Williams, also a Puritan, founded the Rhode Island Colony in 1636. The colony was the first government in the New World to guarantee religious freedom, which remains enshrined in the First Amendment.
The president also has said that since the assassination attempt on his life during the 2024 campaign in Butler, Pennsylvania, he feels “more strongly about God.” Trump said of the shooting: “It changed something in me. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it; something happened.”
If religious beliefs work for our president and maybe for those caught in immigration roundups and needing food assistance, perhaps they are on to something.
For more information on the prayer breakfast, contact Hanna Blockinger at (847) 975-6511 or Hannab56@comcast.net.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
X @sellenews
