We would like to extend our appreciation to all of our volunteers and donors who have shared their time and financial support to help us accomplish our goals this past year. And what a year it's been! With your help we have accomplished these highlights in 2008: $170,000 was awarded in Community Impact Fund grants, the $75,000 Community Collaboration Grant was awarded to the Beginnings program, we established our first Youth Board and installed a Born Learning Trail in SLO, 202 youth were served through the ChildSpree program, 400 volunteers turned out for Make a Difference Day, FamilyWize discount prescription cards were made available, the Nonprofit Collaboration Summit was held and hundreds of nonprofits received contributions via donor choice. Thank you for working with us to create long lasting change in SLO County.

 

 

In 1939, November had five Thursdays and President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving. In 1940, in which November had four Thursdays, he declared the third one as Thanksgiving. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate.
However, many localities had made a tradition of celebrating on the last Thursday, and since a presidential declaration of Thanksgiving Day was not legally binding, it was widely disregarded. Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt's recommendation, 22 did not, and some, like Texas, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays. Critics termed Roosevelt's dating of the holiday as "Franksgiving."