Today, The Morning Thing hosts shared their 5 favorite foods for Thanksgiving. 
1. Click HERE to hear what Jenna Potts loves to eat on Turkey Day.
2. Click HERE to find out the favorite food from Aubrey Bailey.
3. Click HERE to hear the favorite from Wesley Boston.
4. Click HERE to hear from Marcy Rinehart
5. Our 5th favorite food for Thanksgiving HAS to be dessert.
Jenna loves strawberry pretzel salad – a family tradition. Click HERE for the recipe.
Aubrey loves pumpkin rolls .
Wesley loves his Grandma’s shortbread cookies shaped like turkeys. Marcy loves pie! Her Father-in-law makes a great pumpkin pie. Her Mom makes an amazing pecan pie.

Today, The Morning Thing also talked with Janis Seavolt, Mount Vernon City Council Member, about the Mount Vernon Grand Hotel. Janis took us on a virtual tour of this new building in downtown Mount Vernon.
Click HERE to hear the conversation.

We get it, mornings are hard. Few know better than us the struggles of getting up when your body cries for more sleep. Fortunately, God- in His infinite mercies- provided humanity with a means of waking up when we can’t do it alone: Coffee.

That’s right, the true ambrosia, the true nectar of heaven, the one readily accessible to humans for an only slightly overpriced fee can perform wonders on even the most sleep-deprived morning zombie. As it turns out though, there are more than a few things that even the veteran brewer may not be aware of when it comes to selecting, brewing, and storing that most precious of morning resources. That’s why we, The Morning Thing, decided to share a few tips and tricks from Jeremy Challender- co-director of Prufrock Coffee, head judge of the UK Barista Championship (that’s a thing?) and an authorized Specialty Coffee Association of Europe trainer (that’s a thing too?). Safe to say that this guy knows his stuff.

So if you are interested in increasing your know-how to make your mornings easier, better, and tastier you can check out all of the advice that Jeremy has right here.

Also we want to remind you that this is National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child. So if you have a shoebox ready be sure to get it to Brandon Baptist Church (13513 Sycamore Road in Mount Vernon) or NewLife Community Church (9955 State Route 95 in Fredericktown). You can get more information about the local collections for Operation Christmas Child here.

It was a busy morning on The Morning Thing!

With Thanksgiving coming up everyone is preparing to celebrate their many blessings with family and friends. Are you hosting the celebration this year? We talked about preparing your thanksgiving meal and how much food you actually need for your guests.
Click HERE for dinner prep tips!
Plus, we found 10 great Thanksgiving movies to watch after the big meal!
For the complete list click HERE!

We also had the opportunity to talk with Mike Petee about the Chautauqua Foodstock.

To hear our complete conversation with Mike click HERE!
The Chautauqua Foodstock is December 4th 7:00-9:00PM. For more information on how you can get involved in Food for the Hungry check out their website!

Plus, its national OCC collection week! There are two different drop off locations in Knox County for Operation Christmas Child show boxes.

NewLife Community Church – 9955 State Route 95 in Fredericktown (the church is located at the corner of State Route 95 and State Route 13).
Wednesday, November 18 — 5om – 7pm
Thursday, November 19 — 9am – 11am
Friday, November 20 — 9am – 11am
Saturday, November 21 — 9am – 11am
Sunday, November 22 — 2pm – 4pm
Monday, November 23 — 9am – 11am

Brandon Baptist Church — 13513 Sycamore Road in Mount Vernon
Wednesday, November 18 — 3pm – 5pm
Thursday, November 19 — 10am – 12pm
Friday, November 20 — 10am – 12pm
Saturday, November 21 — 10am – 12pm
Sunday, November 22 — 1pm – 4:30pm
Monday, November 23 — 9am – 11am

From more information on Operation Christmas Child go to their website!

In today’s day and age electronics are everywhere. They are unavoidable. We have them in our pockets. We have them in our cars. We have them in multiple rooms of our homes. Let’s face it- electronics are a big part of our life and they are here to stay. But as you might have guessed, there are some downsides to the convenience and entertainment that electronics have to offer, especially for kids. Their developing brains can really be thrown off by the effects of electronic screen time. An article that we shared from Psychology Today recommended the occasional fast in order to help them reset their systems. You can check out that article and get the list of negative effects of screen time and benefits of taking a fast here.

We also chatted with Catie Hayes about MVNU’s partnership with Food For the Hungry, Knox Needs. She shared with us all about what campus is doing and how the community can get involved. You can hear the entire conversation here.

In addition to local outreaches, we took the opportunity to share about Operation Christmas Child. After all, this is National Collection Week! It’s not too late to put together a shoebox and drop it off at one of the many collection points. You can get all kinds of information about OCC here.

And if you are interested in learning why the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year is  instead of a real word, you can find that out here. Seriously,  is not a word! It’s an emoji! I’m telling you, pretty soon we are going to revert back to communicating via hieroglyphics… And there’s only one way to react to that: 

Food for the Hungry is the annual collection of food and funds to benefit Interchurch Social Services and The Salvation Army of Knox County. The calendar is full of events and special collections planned to support the annual drive.

Join WNZR is support of this annual effort.

Click HERE to hear a conversation about this year’s campaign. Marcy Rinehart of The Morning Thing talked with Lisa Mazzari, Food For The Hungry Coordinator; Kailea Sparks, Assistant Coordinator and Joy Harris, Executive Director of Interchurch Social Services.

Click HERE to find out more about Food For The Hungry.

Find an event and get plugged in. Volunteer. Give. Participate. BE part of the solution in the fight against hunger in our community.

Food For The Hungry – working together to care for our neighbors!

ALL Knox County elementary kids are collecting donations for Food For The Hungry this week. It is an exciting time!
The Morning Thing talked about this collection today with Dr. Sonya Smith of Delta Kappa Gamma and Cindi Doolittle of Psi Iota Xi.
Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers – this is the week to bring in donations. We hope that you will take a minute to listen to the conversation and take a few minutes to talk to your kids about how important their gift is to this campaign.

Click HERE to hear the conversation.

Click HERE to find out more about the 2015 Food For The Hungry Drive.

The Morning Thing is getting ready for Food For the Hungry 2015!
Tonight, Kenyon is hosting the 8th annual Empty Bowls Soup Supper and Art Auction at Kenyon’s Peirce Hall from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
We had the opportunity to talk with Lacey Filkins. Click HERE to hear that conversation.
For more information about how you can get involved visit their website.

Plus its Homecoming 2015 at MVNU so we shared our favorite memories from past MVNU Homecomings! 

Click HERE to hear Aubrey Bailey’s favorite MVNU homecoming memory!

Click HERE to hear Wesley Boston’s favorite MVNU homecoming memory!

Click HERE to hear Jenna Potts’ favorite MVNU homecoming memory!

Click HERE to hear Marcy Rinehart’s favorite homecoming memory as a student at MVNC.

Click HERE to hear Marcy Rinehart’s favorite MVNU homecoming memory as a staff member at MVNU!

Mount Vernon Nazarene University is preparing for Homecoming Weekend!
The Morning Thing talked with MVNU Alumni Director, Travis Keller about all of the activities and events.
Click HERE to hear about all the exciting events happening this weekend at 800 Martinsburg Road.
Click HERE to find out more about Homecoming 2015.
MVNU – Shine Forth!

Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

There is a rich history of Veterans Day. Click HERE to read about how this special day became a national holiday.

There are many activities happening in our community for Veterans Day.

East Knox Schools will host the annual Veteran’s breakfast at the high school, Wednesday, 8 a.m. Schoolwide assembly honoring veterans at 9:15 a.m.

Danville Schools will hold its elementary school’s Veteran’s Day program in the gym at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. High school students will go to Memorial Park at 10:30 a.m.

Mount Vernon‘s annual Veterans Day ceremony will be held on the Public Square at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The Mount Vernon High School band will perform.

Fredericktown Schools have canceled their Veterans Day Assembly due to a 2 hour delay this morning. Veterans are still invited to come to the school at 11am for coffee and donuts.

Mount Vernon City Schools will present a special concert tonight.
The Mount Vernon Symphonic Orchestra cordially invites you to its 2nd Annual Veterans Day Concert. The concert will be held on Veteran’s Day, Nov 11, at 7pm in the Mount Vernon High School Theater.

Students will perform a variety of patriotic music in honor of our local veterans. The event is free and open to the public.

The Knox County Historical society to honor veterans tonight.

Each year in November, the Knox County Historical Society pays tribute to the service of Knox County’s veterans, past and present.

This month’s program, on Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m., will begin with the presentation of the colors by members of the Knox County Career Center Jr. Air Force ROTC, who each year participate in numerous Veterans Day activities throughout Central Ohio. The group, under the direction of Lt. Col. Chris Salvucci, has also been present to greet returning area veterans from Honor Flight trips to the various military memorials in Washington, D.C.

Kevin Henthorn, director of the Knox County Veterans Service Office, will discuss the programs and services offered to Knox County veterans. Historical Society Trustee and World War II veteran Mel Helmich will speak about his military service.

The program, held at the Historical Society Museum, 875 Harcourt Road, is free and open to the public, and all persons interested in area history are invited to attend. For more information, call the museum at 740-393-5247.

The presentation previously scheduled by World War II D-Day veteran Donald Jakeway has been postponed and will be rescheduled for early in 2016.

We shared a Thanksgiving Countdown Planner from the Food Network today on The Morning Thing.

Click HERE to get some tips on what you should do when.

We also talked with Steve Feazel about his documentary, “Shadows on the Heartland”.
Click HERE to hear the conversation about this inside look of sexual trafficking and the impact in Ohio.