A post-Thanksgiving column is hard to write.
After all, everyone has given thanks, the turkey is basically gone, Black Friday has brought thousands of bargain hunters out and the Bears won… so, pretty much all the Thanksgiving trappings have been tapped.
I do want to reflect on a few things, and yes, maybe even offer some thanks.
I don’t know if you realize this, but Rochelle is a pretty great town. Maybe we don’t have the shopping everyone wants, or the restaurant variety people crave, or the entertainment draw that other towns have but Rochelle has heart. Plenty of heart. And I can feel it beating.
I felt it beating when I read about the service clubs in the special section of the paper last week. Focus on community, on bettering life for the people in the community, of caring for kids. If you didn’t read that section, I encourage you to find a copy and read it. The people in those clubs have a heck of a lot of heart.
School children from low income families may be eligible to take home a back pack of food on Friday. The pack usually contains snacks, easily fixed meals, and is a bridge for kids who may not be getting enough to eat over the weekend.
When counselor Erin Strouss looked around at May School, she noticed several families that would benefit from the program but who had not yet been qualified.
She organized some “Buddy Packs” for almost a dozen families, getting donations from the community, a service club, and from staff members. Now those kids and their families will have some food for the weekend.
Feel the heartbeat?
When the Kitchen Table opened, I wondered how it would do. Plenty of people have donated their time and money to make this free will donation cafe a place where people of all income levels can go and enjoy a great meal while paying what they can. Some pay a small amount; 37 percent of the 728 diners in October paid less than $5 for a meal. Other diners offer a larger amount. It balances out.

And you can feel the heartbeat.
The Rochelle Township High School marching band needed $93,000 to go to Washington, D.C.? No problem. Tell the community your plans and the community responds.
And you can hear the heartbeat as well as feel it.
Soon the Community Action Network shopping spree will take place, with dozens of youngsters from low income families going shopping. They will buy winter boots, clothes, mittens, gloves and maybe even a toy. The money comes from pork chop sales and donations from hundreds of people in the community.
Feel the heartbeat?
When the summer lunch in the park program ran low on funding, donations flowed in. And the volunteers who ran the program and served the lunches operated without a major interruption because of what the community did.
Feel the heartbeat?
The Two Ton Food Drive sponsored by WRHL collects three tons of food and $9,000 in donations and volunteers package up and distribute the food boxes to those families in need.
Feel the heartbeat?
The VFW offers a free Thanksgiving dinner to anyone who wants one with volunteers cooking, serving and delivering the meals.
Feel the heartbeat?
A family needs a home? Habitat for Humanity does the planning and volunteers do the work.
And you can feel the heartbeat.
A non-profit group has a project that needs funding?  The Rochelle Area Community Foundation may be able to give a grant, because of the generosity of the community in donating to the foundation.
And you can feel the heartbeat.
The main part of our body is the heart, and the heart is frequently a symbol for the main part of an organization or group or team.
You, the people of Rochelle and the area around Rochelle are the heart.
And I can feel that heart beating every day.
That’s something to be thankful for.