The supermarket where Kara and I buy our groceries has a frequent-shopper program, to which we belong. This year, as in most previous years, we had earned more than enough points to receive a free turkey, of any type or size we desired.

Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but this year we have no need of the gratis bird. We also have no room in our freezer or fridge to store an enormous turkey. Adding to our dilemma, if we don’t redeem our points for a turkey before Thanksgiving, they expire and we get nothing. So, what to do?

I took the advice of a stranger on Facebook, who made a wonderful suggestion in reply to a comment I made about this topic: I redeemed our points today, picked out a lovely, 16-pound organic turkey, and donated it to my local Salvation Army Food Pantry.

The woman I spoke with at the Salvation Army office said that requests for turkeys were way up this year, but that donations of turkeys were sharply down. (The national economy in action at the street level, folks.) Understandably, she was very happy to accept my donation.

It makes me happy to know that this Thanksgiving, a family who thought they would have to go without a turkey now will have one more thing for which to be thankful.