About 800 Utahns who by society's standards might not appear to have a lot to be grateful for spent Tuesday afternoon at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake counting their blessings.
The occasion was the annual early bird Thanksgiving feast — always the Tuesday before Thanksgiving — for people who find themselves without hearth or home for the holidays, as well as anybody else who walked through the mission's front door on 400 West near 500 South.
"Our numbers are below the usual thousand we see, but there are many more families with young kids," said Chris Croswhite, executive director of the mission, noting that the crowd was still record-setting in its way — in it was the youngest child ever to come to the mission. "The youngest before was 6 months; the child today was at the most 3 or 4 weeks."
Food was just part of Tuesday's menu. Also being offered were free haircuts, showers, door prizes including backpacks, regular carry-out emergency food boxes, flu shots and live music provided by several local musicians.
On any day, the mission is part rest stop and part winter staging area for people whose lives are much less predictable and much more at the mercy of the elements.
"Nobody gets through this life without having problems," George Zinn said. "We're here for the food and to talk turkey," which he did to his server, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who had stopped by for the same thing.
"I'm willing to serve the people at all levels," Huntsman said an hour or so later, fully aware of the political double-meaning of the occasion. He was only half joking. "These folks interact with some critical, even vital state services, and they'll tell me straight-up what we should be doing or what we could be doing better.
"I really look forward to this," he said. "These are some of the most courageous, straightforward, refreshing, even inspirational people I ever meet. And every time, my respect deepens and my resolve to do what we can to step up and help. Anyone who does always gets multiples in return."
"Well, we didn't get on the governor's case too much today," Zinn said, noting the occasion is for giving thanks, not making demands. "And even though people in this room — or any family in living rooms or at a banquet in a ballroom — can find all kinds of reasons not to be thankful, there are plenty of reasons to be thankful, every day." Don Welch Marsh, a friend sitting next to Zinn, agreed, but added the holiday is also a good time to take stock of life. Zinn agreed back: A lot of these folks have wanted and demanded change, and for that they didn't just fall through the cracks, they were pushed.
Marsh said he believed the room was filled with living examples of people trying to do the right thing but getting turned into a wrong thing, Marsh said.
"What they and I believe people everywhere are really hungry and starving for is genuine equality," Marsh said.
"People are made homeless, but people should have the right not to be. There should also be a right to an education and to have food. And there are and have been obvious ways to see to that for each other through the ages, but we chose a different track.
"And now a lot of others are finding out what the poor have long understood: Doing the right thing isn't necessarily — and most likely won't be — the popular thing or what will make a lot of money. Because in fact, like it or not, life is not about how much stuff you have around you, it's about who you have and what you did for those around you."
Marsh said coming through the recent economic turmoil he sees hope for humanity where others see financial ruin. "Capitalism is declaring bankruptcy — again. But the economy going in the tank is yet another opportunity to have a courageous public discussion about what really matters. Maybe we will. Maybe not."
Life serves up a lot of pretty hard bumps for some people, and for others, things aren't too rough, but that doesn't make one better or worse a person than another, said Don Hill, a counseling intern at the mission. "I've been been there and still would be out living in Dumpsters and not here at all if it weren't for people who cared about me more than I cared about myself."
People who find themselves lining up at the mission for a free Thanksgiving dinner or waiting for a cot on any other day at an emergency shelter "might be homeless or hopeless and may seem helpless," Hill said. "But they are not 'less' of a human being; that's the big mistake people make about people in this situation."
He also cautioned those who think that it could never happen to them, or anyone they love."
"Those who say things like they'd never live this way or let a family member get so far down are people who haven't been through what these folks have," Hill said. "You can't say you'd never do something because you never know what life will do to you."
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com