In years past the Tribune has written a creative editorial handing out food to people in the community who we are thankful for that year.

This Thanksgiving, we wanted to simply offer a heartfelt thank you to some of the people who have made an impact on our lives. From the people who watch our children while we are at work, to the owners of businesses that sell us lunch and to all of our customers and sources in between, we couldn’t do our jobs without you.

Though we cannot list them all, here are just a few of the people we are grateful for this year: for teacher Mona Skare at Brookside Education Center and all others who teach children with special needs in our community; for Lakeview Elementary School teachers Ann Hareid and Kiki Christensen; for residents Rey Reyna, Jayne Stout, Rochelle Kirsch, Sandy Roe, Matthew Peterson and Ric Staloch, who were open and candid about their stories of addiction and recovery with us earlier this year; for John Kluever, Freeborn County administrator; for the neonatal intensive-care unit nurses at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, who cared for a premature newborn grandson of one of our very own employees; for Bob Cotton of Budget Blinds; for daycare provider Debbie Baas; for Dennis Dieser and David Cheeks of the Albert Lea Family Y; for Ron Vogel of Star Granite; for Diane Wichmann of St. John’s Lutheran Community; for the staff of Fisher’s Jewelers; for Keri Hacker, a Younique presenter; for coaches Jim Haney, Joe Sczublewski, Jay Enderson, Larry Goodnature and Jared Matson; for Albert Lea City Manager Chad Adams; for Karen Anderson of Thorne Crest Senior Living Community; for community leader Joyce Nixon; for Northstar Powersports owners Josh Wegner and Rob Kokot; for Jane Reid, a wonderful neighbor; for Jessica Bakken of Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea; for Peter Ahlers-Nelson of Pete’s Chiropractic; for Joey Neely, owner of Copper Kitchen; for Susan Draayer, owner of M&S Outdoors, who always has a smile on her face; for firefighters Scott Hanna and Brett Boss of the Albert Lea Fire Department; for Lake Mills resident Lory Groe who provides high-quality photos to the Tribune; for Albert Lea Mayor Vern Rasmussen Jr.; for Brian Jacobs of Northern Country Co-op in Alden; for Chelsea Hanson of Geneva Bar & Grill; for Mary Johnson, a personal banker; for Dean Leonard of Alpha Orthodontics; for Albert Lea Area Schools Superintendent Mike Funk; for Laurie Sistek, owner of Bookkeeping Cents; for Nick Beyer of Ventura Foods; for Jody Davis, owner of Etcetera Tanning & Clothing; for the members of the Noon Lions Club, Noon Kiwanis and Rotary Club of Albert Lea; for Chris Shoff of Shoff Chiropractic; for Greg Undahl, owner of 112 on Broadway; for Andy Henschel, director of field operations for the Shell Rock River Watershed District; for Bill Anderson and Jim Johnson of Jake’s Pizza; for Mike Veldman of Ag Power; for Jean Eaton of Granicrete; for Paul Schuster and his team at Vern Eide; for Kwik Trip employee Brandy Wirtjes; and for Albert Lea High School math teacher Jacqui Jepson.

This list could go on and on.

Thank you.