Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebrated in Tampa Bay Area

November 23, 2005

Source: St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/23/Tampabay/Diverse_faiths_unite_.shtml

On November 23, 2005 the St. Petersburg Times reported, "Thanksgiving and its tasty trimmings came early this year at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area Mosque. The mosque partnered with the Council on American-Islamic Relations Tuesday afternoon to host its third annual community Thanksgiving meal. After the dinner, mosque leaders and the Brandon Area Interfaith Coalition planned a Thanksgiving Interfaith Service, one of several community worship experiences held Tuesday throughout the bay area. Although the coalition has been holding interfaith holiday services for the last decade, Tuesday marked the first time the event came to the mosque on Sligh Avenue and Orient Road... Later, at the service, members of diverse faiths would share their perspectives on thanking their creators - a rabbi reciting a Jewish daily prayer of thanks, a Christian minister taking up an offering for the mosque's clinic and for disaster relief in Pakistan. But first, there was a feast that would have made Julia Child proud. Muslim women served more than 700 heaping plates of baked chicken, tossed salad, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, stuffing and turkey. Seated side by side at the dinner tables were Jews, Christians, Baha'is, Quakers and Muslims."