Holiday Spirit Alive Despite Rain, Snow, Recent Storms : Thanksgiving: Showers dampened parades, but day’s meaning rang through for battered South’s residents--and old allies from Vietnam.

Rain dampened Thanksgiving Day parade-goers and some holiday travelers were still stranded by snow, but the spirit of the day came alive with turkey dinners for the homeless--and for former allies newly arrived from the jungles of Cambodia.

“What I’ve noticed is a real kind of neat family feeling,” said Jeff Hadfield, kitchen manager at a center that provides meals for the needy in Norman, Okla. “We have a lot of regulars come in. Even though it’s a little cold today, spirits are pretty high. It’s turned out to be pretty nice.”

Some people were thankful to have survived the week’s deadly tornadoes, and in hurricane-battered Homestead, Fla., citizens gave thanks for the help sent there by people across the nation.

Umbrellas and slickers were in fashion for the thousands of people who turned out in the rain to watch the enormous cartoon character balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.

“When you see the balloons, you sort of forget about the rain,” said 9-year-old Lauren Cohen of Tarrytown, N.Y.

It also rained on the big balloons of Philadelphia’s annual parade Thursday, but that did not stop thousands of fans.

Heavier rain fell in the Southeast. Orangeburg, S.C., got more than five inches of rain in five hours and several rivers were at or near flood stage.

Volunteers and charitable groups across the country served Thanksgiving dinner to thousands of the homeless and the needy.

“It’s very rewarding,” said Pat Andrews, a volunteer who helped the Chicago Christian Industrial League serve nearly 1,000 people by midmorning. “You feel good about giving your time and your energy and your love.”

Montagnards from Vietnam, resettled to North Carolina this month from a hide-out in the jungles of Cambodia, enjoyed a traditional American Thanksgiving on Thursday at Apex, N.C.--with one big exception.

“The only difference here is that no one is watching football,” said Carrie Vernia, a staffer with Lutheran Family Services in Raleigh, N.C.

Daniel Jennings, a disabled veteran from Fayetteville, N.C., donated two 23-pound turkeys to the center because of his days in the Special Forces in the central highlands of Vietnam during 1966-1969.

“The Montagnards were our best allies in Asia,” he said. “They waited 20 years for us to come back as we promised, and we never did. We need to take care of them.”

Atlanta civil rights activist Hosea Williams expected to feed 40,000 people, 7,000 more than last year, at his annual Feed the Hungry feast.

Dozens of volunteers cooked 2,500 turkeys, 75 hams, 75 roasts, 700 hens, 500 gallons of corn, 300 gallons of black-eyed peas, 300 gallons of lima beans, 800 gallons of yams, 400 gallons of cranberry sauce, 300 gallons of collard greens and hundreds of pies.

Fifteen motorists stranded by up to 19 inches of snow in the Oklahoma Panhandle spent the night at Roger Cannon’s Hiway Cafe in Elmwood.

“I would like to think anybody in my situation would do this,” Cannon said. The Highway Patrol said all roads had reopened at least partially Thursday.

Major roads were open but still icy in the Texas Panhandle, and many travelers were staying put.

Tornadoes earlier in the week cast a shadow over the holiday in Mississippi, where 15 people were killed.

Dorothy Jordan’s dishes were blown away and her home was ravaged by a tornado, but she said her family would have some sort of dinner, even if it was just a sandwich. “We won’t let the day pass without giving thanks that we’re alive,” she said.