It’s Thanksgiving week and a time each year when we reflect upon the blessing within our lives. Today our warmest Thanksgiving wishes go out to all of you, our clients, friends, and neighbors. Along with this note of thanks to you, this week we offer a special Thanksgiving “shout-out” to one of the more unsung Thanksgiving heroes, Sarah Hale. Historians credit Sara Hale as the originator of the Thanksgiving federal holiday.

Sara Hale undertook a 17-year letter writing campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday observed in all states. Before Hale, Thanksgiving was not a fixed holiday but rather an informal tradition. Presidents would select a day and make it known that it would be a day of thanksgiving and community. Hale lobbied five separate presidents for a set date until finally her request was granted by president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln congratulated her tenacity and immortalized the holiday as part of American culture.

So thanks, Sara, for your 17 years of letter writing, for securing our day of Thanks on Thursday, and for your part in creating one of the most warm and celebrated day within our American culture!