I heard from All Faiths today, and in just one week, Reality readers have donated $612 to help feed the needy and hungry folks in our community. That’s the equivalent of 970 meals if you can believe it! Isn’t that amazing?

I’m really blessed (and I don’t say that lightly) and very grateful for the response from so many of you. Thank you SO VERY MUCH for participating in the drive.

There’s still time to make donations — the drive continues through December 18th. If you already donated and want to help spread the word, please feel free to forward the link to the Wake Up, MC, There Really Is a Santa Claus blog posting which explains the drive and the drawings.

—————– Excerpt from the 2006 column that launched the annual All Faiths Drive —–

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His mouth can hold more than his belly can,
He can hold in his beak,
Enough food for a week!
I’m damned if I know how the hell he can!

If this limerick, written in 1910 by Dixon Lanier Merritt, an American poet and humorist, has any truth to it, then pelicans are darn resourceful birds.

Medieval folklore holds that adult pelicans, when no other source of food is available, turn their beaks inward to their chest, prick their own hearts, and nourish their children with drops of blood. Which would make pelicans not only resourceful, but generous as well.

I may not be a pelican, and as big as my nose is, I don’t think it qualifies as a beak … but as a writer, my lifeblood is in my words, and I’m willing to spill a little writer’s ink in the name of filling a few bellies.

In three weeks, it will be Thanksgiving, and I have a lot to be thankful for.

One of the things for which I’m most grateful is the opportunity the Pelican Press has given me as a freelance columnist. I thoroughly enjoy writing this column and have been educated and inspired by the humorous, intelligent, and challenging discourse and feedback I’ve received from so many Pelican readers.

In thanksgiving, I’ll be donating my November earnings from this column to All Faiths Food Bank, in the name of the Pelican Press and the community of Pelican advertisers and readers – both in print and online, who keep the paper (and me!) in business.

Now, you probably can imagine that we freelance columnists aren’t exactly raking in the big bucks, and my November paycheck will only do so much good. That’s why I’m inviting you to join me in a quick bit of Pelican philanthropy or as I like to call it – “Pel-anthropy.”

All Faiths is a local organization that combats hunger in Sarasota and Manatee counties (www.allfaithsfoodbank.org). A donation of just $16 enables them to provide a turkey dinner and trimmings for a needy family of five during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Over the next two weeks, if you would like to be a fellow “Pel-anthropist,” you can participate by sending your check to All Faiths Food Bank, in whatever amount you choose. Just make sure to put a note on your check that identifies you as a “Pel-anthropist” so the All Faiths staff can keep specific track of donations from Pelican Press readers.

Everyone who makes a donation is eligible to participate in two “thanks for donating” random drawings that will be held on November 17th (that’s why your checks need to be there by the 16th).

The first drawing prize, graciously donated by Pelican Press management, is a free 3 x 5 ad space in a December issue of the paper (certain restrictions will apply). The second drawing prize is that yours truly – that’s me – will write a column to run sometime in December all about the second lucky winner – about your business, your hobby, why you love Sarasota, this newspaper, or what makes you or your organization particularly Pel-anthropic.

In my November 23rd column (published on the 22nd due to Thanksgiving), I’ll give an update of our Pel-anthropic efforts, letting you know how much money was raised and how many bellies we helped fill with thanksgiving … Pelican-style.