I was blessed to grow up in NE Indiana in a Norman Rockwell-like atmosphere surrounded by family who knew how to laugh and how to love unconditionally. Thanksgiving always included turkey, apple-pie, plenty of wine, and home-made noodles over mashed potatoes (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it).

At the end of this amazing meal, just before the Tryptophan coma set in, I remember my father sitting at the head of the table saying, “I am so damn lucky.” And he was. Everyone in the United States is damn lucky to be living in a country where even the poorest among us are still among the top 5% of the wealthiest people on earth.

I believe in the power of gratitude and I’m glad the U.S. sets aside a day for American’s to reflect on the many blessings that are ours. Even if I spent the next day typing I could not list all the things for which I am thankful.

I am thankful that I have inexpensive running water pumped directly into my home when one in six individuals on the earth must carry safe drinking water extended distances to survive.

I am thankful to live in the great state of #Indiana where we are surrounded by fertile land and compassionate people who care about their neighbors.

I am thankful my 14 yr old daughter is healthy and has the opportunity to attend an excellent school which is not the typical experience for children worldwide.

Last year to show my thanks, I participated in the Tweetsgiving event where tweeters around the world came together to show their thanks by helping a poor community to build a school. The event was sponsored by a charitable organization called Epic Change who, “launched the original TweetsGiving celebration in November 2008 as a 48-hour celebration of gratitude and giving that successfully raised over $10,000 to build a classroom in Arusha, Tanzania.“

The Tanzanian students are thrilled with their new classroom and they now have their own twitter handles and are participating in the global dialog.If you’re interested, I created a twitter list which contains all the students from this Tanzanian classroom. http://twitter.com/#/list/AmyStark/tanzania

@Leah_Albert

I encourage you to visit the student’s twitter entries where you’ll see how they show their thanks:

@Leah_Albert : my name is leah .i am thankful for people who have hope like mama Lucy!!and for epicchange helping our school.very glad for epic change!!!!

“Epic Change invested the funds to build a classroom at a school founded by Tanzanian Epic Change fellow “Mama Lucy” Kamptoni, a woman who used to sell chickens and used her income to build a school that now serves over 300 children near her home in Arusha. In this classroom built from gratitude, the Twitter handles of donors are now painted on the walls.”

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year take a moment to reflect on how lucky you are, and visit the Epic Change Web site:

Want to help us spread gratitude this TweetsGiving?  Here’s five ways you can get involved now

Or spend a few moments watching the video from the students:

TweetsGiving 2009 from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

I was an adult with a child of my own before I fully appreciated my father’s sentiment, “I’m so damn lucky” and I feel blessed that I could, in some small way, show my gratitude by helping children half-way around the world.  Happy Tweetsgiving!