Many University students look forward to eating turkey, dressing and sweet potato pie with their families for Thanksgiving.
But international students often are thousands of miles away from their families and can’t enjoy holiday meals with their loved ones.
This year some campus religious organizations are providing free Thanksgiving meals for internationals in an attempt to remedy the distance problems they face during holidays.
The Baptist Collegiate Ministry will hold a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner for internationals tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the BCM center, which is at the corner of Highland Road and East Chimes Street.
A flier for the event said there would be “games and historical entertainment” in addition to food.
Chaney Ferguson, a secondary education junior and BCM member, will be helping out at the dinner. She said she knows it is important for all students to be with their families during holidays.
“I want them to have someone to share [Thanksgiving] with,” she said.
Ferguson said she will do whatever she can to ensure a good Thanksgiving experience for international students.
“If that’s just sitting [and] talking to people or serving food, that’s what I’ll do,” she said.
The Chapel on the Campus is hosting its Internationals Banquet Tuesday, Nov. 18, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Chapel on Campus is located at 3355 Dalrymple Drive, next to the International Cultural Center.
Brooke Mote, director of International Ministries, said the banquet is the Chapel’s “way of saying we care about the international community.”
Mote said the dinner is a unique celebration because it showcases international culture as well as shares American traditions.
“The program is planned by internationals,” she said.
The Chapel’s Thanksgiving activities will appeal to specific needs and tastes since internationals will plan them, Mote said.
“We always ask internationals to bring food and wear clothes from their country,” Mote said.
Mote also said The Chapel will provide childcare for children 10 and younger.
“[Children] 11 and older can stay with their family,” she said.
Guru Kithlanagamangala, an electrical engineering graduate student from India, said he had not heard about the free meals but would go under one condition.
“Only if they have vegetarian food,” he said.
Kithlanagamangala said his family, who follows Hindu, raised him to be a vegetarian. He said he is not a vegetarian for religious purposes but because not eating meat is simply part of the way he grew up.
Thanksgiving is historically an American holiday, but Kithlanagamangala said that would not keep him from participating in one of the feasts.
Kithlanagamangala said Thanksgiving is not a national holiday in India, but he was aware while living there that there is such a holiday in other countries. He has a host family here and has learned more about the holiday through it.
“They have invited me to Thanksgiving,” Kithlanagamangala said.
International students who wish to attend the dinner at the BCM should call 343-0408 or e-mail [email protected].
If International students want to attend the Chapel’s Internationals Banquet, they can call 387-4416 or e-mail Mote at [email protected].