The Farmer File: Thanks for Giving

They're not worried about it, however, for several reasons:

-- They have a lot of help from several hundred volunteers.

-- The turkey and trimmings are donated by generous people around Collier County.

-- And this dedicated, giving couple has been doing these holiday dinners for 21 years.

I write about them because they truly are unsung heroes -- Kathy and Jim Shannon.

Their Thanksgiving dinner party takes place at Airport Park in Immokalee, where it began in 1982.

Then, as now, it serves the many migrant workers in Immokalee.

About 600 people queued for the free food that first year. This year, up to 3,000 are expected at the event, under the auspices of the Guadalupe Center.

But back to Jim and Kathy Shannon.

Their tireless work is the backdrop for this holiday celebration.

Kathy is in charge of the Guadalupe Center's building program. The effort is to get enough money to expand child-care and literacy programs.

John Lawson, an official at the center, told me that 104 children are on a waiting list; presently there's no room for them.

"Some people who do charitable work make a big splash about what they do," Lawson said. "Not many serve as long and hard as Jim and Kathy have, so modestly, never calling attention to themselves.

"They haven't had a Thanksgiving dinner at home with just family for more than 20 years. Their daughter, now in college, has grown up with the Immokalee Thanksgiving dinner tradition and it has taught her the values her parents live every day."

Some of the people served on these many Thanksgiving days don't know the Shannons. But they know their gift.

"I don't have no family; I live here alone," said Sylvester Minatee, 81, said while eating a turkey dinner last Thanksgiving in the park. "I thank the world, because God blessed me today."

A bonus to all the benevolence that day: John Lawson told me that Minatee was quoted in this newspaper in an article about the holiday dinner at Airport Park

A long-lost relative read it on Naplesnews.com and Minatee was reunited with those relatives a short time later.

It is that sort of need that keeps the modest, humble Shannons going, year after year, with no kudos, no trophies.

It is their unselfish, tireless willingness to help others that makes them heroes to those who benefit from their work, yet unknown to most of us.

One way of thanking Jim and Kathy Shannon would be a donation to the dinner or the Guadalupe Center. Phone: 657-7711.

You also can drop off cooked, sliced turkeys, canned green beans and other food on Wednesday, at Moorings Presbyterian Church, 791 Harbour Drive, Naples. For details, phone 261-1487.

On Thanksgiving day, food will be accepted until 10 a.m. at St. William Catholic Church, 601 Seagate Drive, Naples. Call 261-4883.

Or if you go to help out at the big dinner, ask for Kathy or Jim Shannon and tell them thanks. Thanks for giving.

Don Farmer hosts "Gulf Coast Weekend" on NewsRadio1660-AM noon Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. He's a former news anchor for CNN and an ABC News correspondent. E-mail: don@gulfcoastweekend.com.