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Friends,
We enter this Thanksgiving week with gratitude and appreciation for the City we serve. On behalf of the City of Little Rock's 2,500 employees, it is an honor and privilege to work on your behalf to strengthen our community. We will pause this Thanksgiving to be grateful for our abundant blessings.
As your Mayor, my thanks and appreciation go out to all of you, but especially all the City team members who daily demonstrate their commitment and dedication to the people of Little Rock. While many of us will celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, hundreds of city workers like our police officers and firefighters will be working that day in service to their community. Let us be thankful to them for their sacrifices on this holiday.
With a mindset focused on gratitude and appreciation, I asked a few of our team members to share with us their thoughts on thankfulness and what Thanksgiving means to them.
Please take the time to read their messages, and please have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Sarai Vega
 Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the blessings that surround us. For me, it’s a moment to pause and appreciate the people and experiences that shape my journey. I am especially grateful for my family, friends, and colleagues, whose unwavering support and encouragement mean the world to me. I’m also thankful for the opportunities that have allowed me to grow both personally and professionally.
This season reminds me to celebrate the changes in my life that have shaped me into the person I am today. While it’s easy to get caught up in life’s challenges, Thanksgiving inspires me to cherish the small joys—sharing a meal, laughing with loved ones, and embracing the warmth of community. Gratitude has a unique power to strengthen relationships and foster connections, making this holiday a meaningful time to honor those who make life truly special.
Sarai Vega is multicultural liaison assistant in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Tiger Dockett
 To me Thanksgiving Day is a day to express gratitude for the blessings of life, including family, friends, food, health, and the harvest. Time to gather with loved ones, sharing traditional food, and serving others in the community.
We alternate with our families between Texas and Arkansas to celebrate Thanksgiving. With all the cooks in our family, we should have started our own restaurant by now! The men all take turns with the fried, grilled, or just the baked turkey, And the main dishes and the sides are handled between my mom, my sister, and my aunties. Let’s not talk about all the desserts that we have, but my favorite is banana pudding.
It’s good that we all can celebrate this day of Thanksgiving with everyone. It’s a shame we wait till this one day to give thanks. Nevertheless, always give thanks to God for everyday you’re here.
Tiger Dockett is a traffic sign fabricator for the Department of Public Works
Scott Massanelli
 Thanksgiving is a time to come together as a family and a one-time opportunity to overeat without the guilt. It is a time to celebrate longstanding traditions but also to start new ones.
My father-in-law passed over a year ago, and his Thanksgiving tradition was to go around the table with everyone and ask them what they were thankful for that particular year. We carried on that tradition last year without him and I hope it continues but you never know.
I’ve noticed that over time, certain Thanksgiving traditions change, slowly, but over time.
The Thanksgiving traditions that I grew up with as a boy and young man of eating homemade spaghetti, fried chicken and soaked salad every Thanksgiving are no longer celebrated with the gradual passing of aunts, uncles, grandparents and now parents. Maybe on a future Christmas, I will take the time and effort and bring back some of my older Thanksgiving traditions, maintaining a connection to both the past and the present.
Scott Massanelli is treasury manager in the Department of Finance
Lisa Hinshaw
 When I was a child, Thanksgiving meant food and family fun with cousins along with some travels. Now that I am at that midpoint in life, I am losing older family and gaining younger family and Thanksgiving has been tinged with a bit of sadness in with the food and family fun.
It has become a time when I truly cherish those I have around me because tomorrow may bring more change. So I give thanks for the family I have and give thanks for the food on my table and thank my family for being there. And I pray that I have left those around me memories of good food and family fun.
Lisa Hinshaw is a systems coordinator in the Department of Human Resources
Shaneka Fisher-Jones
 Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the blessings in life from the current year. This year, I’m grateful for my family, continuous learning, health, personal growth, my community, and the gift of another day.
Remember to always focus on the little things and focus on the positive aspects of life.
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it
Shaneka Fisher-Jones is an office assistant for the Re-Entry Program in the Department of Community Programs
John Jenkins
 To me Thanksgiving is a time for family, reflection, and gratitude. I’m especially thankful for the love and support of my family and friends, who I am fortunate to have as they enrich my life in many ways.
I’m also grateful for decent health and the countless blessings in my life.
As my family gathers for our Thanksgiving dinner, I feel it’s important to cherish the memories of past, create new memories, and be thankful for the blessings in our lives.
John Jenkins is code enforcement manager in the Department of Housing and Neighborhood Programs
Maggie Raglin
 I am thankful for a career that has allowed me to be able to support conservation organizations, not only within my local community, but also globally.
I have been able to work with amazing animals and people! Being able to educate our community about our natural world and ways that we can make an impact on conservation locally and globally makes my job so special.
Most Little Rock citizens do not realize that every time they enter the Little Rock Zoo part of their entrance fee goes to both local and international conservation efforts. Not everyone has a career that they love and can grow into, and I never take that for granted!
Maggie Q. Raglin is a carnivore keeper at the Little Rock Zoo
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