Children decorate Orange with gratitude chain listing things they are grateful for this year

ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) -- For Thanksgiving 2020, our "All Good News" segment has an appropriate focus: gratitude.

"This was just kind of our way to reach out to our community," said Lisa Blanc, an agent of Seven Gables Real Estate.

Children in the city of Orange made a chain of gratitude, connecting paper links as a way to let their community know what they're grateful for this year.

The over 550-foot long chain can "linked" back to the agents of Seven Gables Real Estate.

"I can tell you that grandparents got a lot of rave reviews on the chains here. Pets. Some are grateful for food and shelter," said Blanc. "So we created craft chain kits for kids in our community and we asked them to sit down and either draw a picture or write down seven things that they're grateful for and to link them together into a chain with a goal of being able to wrap our downtown beloved Orange Plaza in gratitude."

One of the happy participants was Ava Tuggle.

'Well, I wrote things I was grateful for, like my mom, my family, my friends and my teacher," said Ava.

Her thoughts are now linked with those of hundreds of other children in Orange. Her Mom thinks it is important to see something positive like this in the community.

"I think it's important for kids to learn to appreciate the gifts they've been given, to be grateful for all of the blessings in our life, no matter how big or small," said Ava's mom, Ashlie Tuggle.

Ava's dad, a local firefighter, knows this has been a challenging time for everyone and loves the spirit of this project.

"It's just so refreshing to be able to see it in the community that I serve as well as other little kids that are coming up and they're being gracious for the things that they do have and not focusing on some of the negativity that might be surrounding us," said Charlie Tuggle.

The chain may be made of paper, but the gratitude written on every link feels unbreakable.