This year marks the first year of Life Development Institute’s full Thanksgiving meal prepared by students using the skills they have learned in their cooking class and shared with all staff and students.  Students took 3 hours and worked together to provide a feast that included Turkey, Ham, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Twice-Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Gravy, Dinner Rolls, Cranberry Sauce, Chicken Pot Pie, and Desserts ranging from Apple Pie, Pecan Pie, and Cherry Cheesecake.  The whole school then enjoyed time eating together and celebrating community.  Please see the pictures below.

Also, as a fun fact-finding adventure for all, here is a brief history of Thanksgiving:

  • 1621 – Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans celebrate what is called the first Thanksgiving, which was a 3-day festival celebrating the first successful harvest by the Pilgrims.
  • Thursday, November 26, 1789 – George Washington announces the 1st ever National Thanksgiving Holiday
  • 1827 – 1857 – Sara Josepha Hale, writer of Mary had a Little Lamb campaigned for recreation of the original Thanksgiving after being inspired through her reading of Diary of A Pilgrim
  • 1863 – Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, states that Thanksgiving is to be celebrated on the final Thursday of November
  • 1939 – Franklin D. Roosevelt moves up the Thanksgiving celebration to extend the holiday shopping season, which would assist retailers during the Great Depression
  • 1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill that places Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday due to criticism from Americans
  • 1989 – George H.W. Bush began the annual tradition wherein a turkey is pardoned by the President each year