Day 3: I’m thankful to have the weekends off – to sleep in (a little), go to the gym, run errands, and do laundry.  Although I’d rather be lounging, I’m always more thankful when productivity wins out!

Want to participate in the Month of Thanks?  Grab the button and include it in a blog post, then either send me a link to the post via e-mail (clairetherd@gmail.com) or tweet it @clairetherd with hashtag #monthofthanks.  I will post a round up of our thankful thoughts each Thursday this month!

I mentioned last Wednesday that my brother’s college roommate’s family is from Breezy Point, New York – the town in Queens that was devastated by the flooding and fires of last week’s storm.  Thankfully they are all safe, but their town and home were badly damaged.   Bobby is from a family of 5 kids, with hardworking parents who are sending him to school at Carnegie Mellon, one of the best colleges in the country.  Ironically, it was Bobby’s birthday on Monday (the day of the storm) and he wasn’t even sure that his family was safe until late Tuesday afternoon.

This is Bobby’s family surveying the damage in their hometown (photo courtesy of cnbc.com):

This photo breaks my heart, but I want to really show what this town went through.  My family will be hosting a fundraiser at my dad’s restaurants on November 25th to help them rebuild.  Please check out my Causes page for information (if you’re local, please come to the event and say hi!) – you can also donate directly to the fund or through my PayPal account (please e-mail me, clairetherd@gmail.com for more info).

It would mean the world to me if you’d spread the word about the Esposito Family from Breezy Point on your blog, retweet my Tweet about the cause, or make any donation possible – even $1 helps.

Of course, donating the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other organizations is wonderful – but this is an opportunity to know exactly the family you’ll be helping – and how much they’ll appreciate it.

Thanks for reading – be thankful for all you have! <3