Paying It Forward: Celebrating Gratitude This Thanksgiving

December 3, 2025

Our young people marked Thanksgiving week with spiritual celebrations at both of our locations and meals featuring all the classic holiday fare, including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, green beans, and dessert. 

Mercy Home’s Director of Milieu Training and Cultural-Spiritual Engagement Marc Velasquez explained that the theme of this year’s celebrations would be paying forward our gratitude.

“I came up with this idea thinking about the reason I do that job that I do,” he said. “The reason I decided to come to Mercy Home [was because] I had a teacher in high school who was instrumental in teaching me what a powerful person I was. I did say thank you to him when I graduated, because I think saying thank you is important, but the way that I continue to show thanks to him is by helping other people see their own power.”

“I would like to become a therapist so that I can counsel and mentor girls like me,” she said. “[I will be] sharing my stories in hopes it would inspire them to do the same for other girls with similar situations.”

During dinner, each of the girls wrote down their thoughts about those for whom they were thankful and how they planned to pay that gratitude forward. One of the youth then introduced Fr. Scott Donahue, who gave his annual Thanksgiving reflection.

“Thanksgiving is my favorite of all the holidays,” he said. “I love Thanksgiving because it’s an opportunity just to be grateful and say thank you.”

Fr. Scott then read a passage from St. Luke’s gospel about Jesus’ meeting 10 lepers on his journey to Jerusalem. He healed them all, allowing them to return to the lives they had to leave when they were diagnosed with leprosy, but only one returned to thank Jesus.

“Gratitude and thanksgiving are such important virtues in our lives,” he said. 

The girls then moved to the dining room to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast together.

“When I graduated, I had to make my own path,” he said. “I fell a lot … but he showed me Mercy Home, where I live today. I stand here today with As and Bs in college. I fixed all my failures. … So, in return, I put time and energy into school. I put time and energy into my future and I pay it forward with the people who look up to me, including my siblings, getting them ready for what’s next.”

Fr. Scott then shared his holiday reflection to our young people and coworkers, again sharing the story of the leper who demonstrated a grateful heart when he was healed by Jesus. He noted that at his parish, St. Robert Bellarmine, the school children who attended the Thanksgiving Mass filled boxes in front of the altar with food as a way of giving back. But, after the Mass, he realized that one box was left empty. He said that in the days since, he pondered the possible symbolism of the empty box for Thanksgiving. 

When our young people were asked to fill an empty box with notes about people and things for which they were thankful and how they would pay their gratitude forward to others, he concluded that the box represented the opportunity to fill ourselves with gratitude and recognize those who support us.

“Life is difficult for everyone,” he said. “It has so many challenges and we can’t do it by ourselves. We have one another to support and encourage one another.”

Fr. Scott said that through the exercise of writing down who and what we are thankful for and how we can pay it forward, we are making a commitment to better our world.

“It’s the time of year when we can just focus on what’s most important,” he said.

Our young people enjoyed these special opportunities to celebrate the holiday together. At each event, our youth and coworkers made sure to express their gratitude to our kitchen staff for creating an incredible feast and for providing nourishing meals year-round. Everyone in the Mercy Home family is already looking forward to next year’s celebration!