In a time when many are focused on the perils of the economic downturn and what it can mean for their bottom line, we forget about those who are less fortunate.

Yesterday, 200 FeedingNYC volunteers congregated at Chelsea Piers to package and transport more than 2,000 Thanksgiving dinners for underprivileged families throughout New York City.

Founded in 2001 by Robert LoCascio (second from left in the photo), chief executive officer of LivePerson — a company to watch in the Web Interaction Management category of CRM‘s 2008 Service Leaders — it is a nice change of pace to the doom-and-gloom news we’ve all been bombarded with recently.

In preparation for the upcoming holiday season, what are your organizations doing to give back to your respective communities? I’d love to hear your stories.

(Photo Credit: Jonathan Ziegler/Patrick McMullen Company)