Join us on Sunday, November 23rd, 5:00pm at Beth Chaim Congregation
We invite you to a family-friendly gathering for solidarity, compassion, healing, and gratitude. This will be a moment for mutual support, reflection, and nourishing harmony among us.
Potluck! Please bring a vegetarian sweet or savory finger food to share, and your favorite beverage. Sign-up at ISRV.love/Friends.
Compassion! Bring canned food donations for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. The Food Bank recommends donating healthy, nonperishable food you would like to eat. Key items during this challenging time include:
Nut butters (peanut, almond), jam/jelly/honey
Canned tuna and chicken (in water)
Boxed macaroni and cheese
Shelf-stable milk
Beans/lentils (dry or canned) and rice
Canned soups/vegetables/tomato products (low sodium, easy open)
Whole grain cereals/crackers and whole wheat/grain pasta
To learn more about donating food to meet local needs, please see the Multi-Faith ACTION Coalition webpage. Please note: The Food Bank cannot accept glass containers, food past its ‘best by’ date, open/partially-used products, alcohol, or frozen/refrigerated foods.
Even if bringing food doesn’t work for you, please join us for a time of building our relationships, of actively choosing Love! There will be time dedicated to recognizing the wounds that have been inflicted, and for seeking faith-rooted responses.
Invite visiting family members or a friend or two to join in! Use the sign-up link to let us know.
I-SRV’s Longest Standing Tradition
Our Interfaith Thanksgiving Worship Celebration is an occasion of gratitude through the music, prayers, poetry, and dance of all of our traditions, which creates an evening of joy and thankfulness for life, the Sacred, each other, and the Land. This tradition has been going on for over 20 years and brings to life the deep appreciation and commitment I-SRV holds.
Friendsgiving, Our 2024 Celebration
Our 2025 annual Thanksgiving Celebration was an evening of Friendsgiving! The people of San Ramon Valley connected with old and new friends, and also enjoyed food and music while sharing in gratitude and reflections. The Kurt Ribak Trio offered soulful inspiration
We learned about the important work of Monument Crisis Center and collected canned foods for local families.
We appreciate the hospitality of the people of Saint Joan of Arc Parish in San Ramon as they hosted us in their Multipurpose Room and made our potluck possible. It was an evening of tending to friendship, gratitude, and harmony in our community!
Appreciation for the Haudenosaunee People & One of Their Gifts to the World
The Thanksgiving Address shared during our 2023 Celebration is the publicized version of John Stokes and Kanawahientun, 1993. We were introduced to this version through Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. In the chapter “Allegiance to Gratitude”, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about the desire of the Haudenosaunee to publish and share these words of thanksgiving and pledge of reciprocity with the living world. We are grateful for this gift and respectfully acknowledge and appreciate the Haudenosaunee sharing their wisdom. We are listening and learning.
Remembering Our 2023 Celebration
Our musician Rana, led us as our voices rose in hope and prayer. The Wisdom and Words of the Onondaga Nation’s Thanksgiving Invocation guided us in greeting and giving thanks to the Natural World, focusing our minds as one on the priority of gratitude, an ethic of fullness, and a bill of responsibilities to live in balance and harmony.
In song, we renewed our commitment to standing with each other, walking with those seen as outsiders, and welcoming people in need of refuge. We connected to our bodies, noticing Aloha, the Breath of God, moving through us and opening ourselves to the Energy of Aliveness.
Time paused, folding inwards, as we experienced the eternity of prayer through poetry and qigong.
Friends shared appreciations flowing in their hearts: for the people of our community, clean water, family, God, worshiping in freedom, love, trees, the light, and more…
We thank the people of St. Timothy’s for hosting us in their Sacred Space and all the presenters who shared during the Celebration.
Highlights of Our 2022 Celebration
Beth Chaim hosted a delightful celebration for us in 2022. The evening featured original music by Allan Ajaya Davidson and Michaelle Goerlitz and hymns shared by the Choi Family Trio. Mayor Arnerich spoke about the necessity of our working together. Muslim and Jewish chants engaged us in singing from the heart. Children’s Time bound us together in the unity we long for. Hope Solutions made clear there is hope for the unsheltered. We agreed we are all hungry for more, for more occasions of celebration together.