Generations of Giving: Stories Worth Passing On
In John 6, a great crowd gathers around Jesus, and the disciples wonder how to feed everyone. Then a child steps forward and offers what he has: five small loaves and two fish. In the hands of Jesus, that child’s simple gift becomes enough to feed thousands.
It is a beautiful picture of faith — trusting God to use whatever we have, no matter how small. What might that young boy have grown up to tell his children and his children’s children about that moment? About who God is and what God has done?
In Psalm 78, Asaph urges God’s people to boldly declare God’s faithfulness to the next generation:
We will tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord.”
Together, these Scriptures remind us not only to share what we have, but to pass that spirit of faith and hope on.
That same spirit has shaped Thornwell’s story for generations. Because communities of faith believe in Thornwell’s mission and pass it on, children have been helping other children through one rather plump symbol for more than a century — the Thornwell cardboard turkey!
The tradition began early in Thornwell’s history. In 1896, Presbyterian Sunday School children across South Carolina gave enough money to build the Children’s Gift Academy, an elementary school for the growing number of children in Thornwell’s care.
By the 1920s, cardboard turkey banks were helping a new generation continue that legacy. Children filled their turkeys one coin at a time; first with nickels, then dimes, and later quarters.
One extraordinary story about this tradition unfolded in 1960. Just before Thanksgiving, two college freshmen were asked to write about a childhood Thanksgiving memory.
One student, Bill Barron, remembered the cardboard turkey that sat on his family’s breakfast table in Alabama every November. It had 30 slots, and each morning he placed a dime in one of them for children living 350 miles away at Thornwell.
Another student wrote about celebrating Thanksgiving as a child at Thornwell. The children were shown the filled cardboard turkeys and told, “People you may never see or meet filled these turkeys because they care about you.”
Their professor recognized the connection and asked the students to read each other’s essays. In that classroom, a child who had given and a child who had received discovered that they were part of the same story.
That is the beauty of generations of giving.
The tradition lives on through people like faithful Thornwell donor *Harley, who remembered the turkeys from his Sunday School days and carried a lifelong belief in Thornwell’s ministry from this first interaction as a small boy. It continues through other faithful givers like James “Jimmy” Moore, who has filled paper turkeys for nearly 70 years and, with his wife, Miffy, even wears a turkey hat to encourage others to support Thornwell.
The coins have changed. The turkey has grown a little plumper. Thornwell’s services have evolved to meet the current needs of children and families. But the heart of the tradition remains the same: people inspiring the next generation to share what they have because God calls us to care about others.
That is what Psalm 78 calls us to do: to remember what God has done and make sure the next generation knows.
Generosity is something we can pass down, regardless of our age, influence, or the size of our gift. God can use whatever we offer to bless others.
A compassionate parent raises children who notice the needs of others.
A generous church creates generations of people who bless others.
Like the child who offered his loaves and fish, we may not know what God will do with what we place in his hands. But we can trust God with it, and we can teach the next generation to do the same.
Today, it is our turn to continue that story. Through our prayers, generosity, and faithful support, we can show children and families that they are seen, valued, and loved, and we can teach the next generation what it means to care for others.
May we remember what God has done.
May we share what we have with childlike faith.
And may we tell the stories of what God does with our offering, passing generosity on from one generation to the next.
This Thornwell Emphasis Month, we invite you to be part of Generations of Giving by prayerfully considering how God is calling you to meet the needs of children and families. Through prayer, giving, or serving, your partnership with Thornwell this month—and all year long—helps “boldly declare God’s faithfulness” for children, families, and communities.