Most students across the country are excited to just get away from college for the four-day Thanksgiving weekend ““ but many Bruins are doing much more.
Students on campus are working to give back to the community by hosting activities like educational movie screenings, community dinners and educational segments about Thanksgiving.
The Vietnamese Student Union at UCLA, for instance, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner Monday night and charged students $5, which was donated to a homeless shelter. Any leftover food was given to residents of skid row, a city or street where there are a lot of homeless people, said Myca Tran, the internal vice president of the union.
The dinner was for students who won’t have the opportunity to go home for the holiday. The union provided a place where students could bond while cooking and socializing with others, Tran said.
VSU also provided educational segments where students could learn more about the traditional history of Thanksgiving.
“It’s more of just understanding history, but at the same time also utilizing this day to promote more of a family orientated feeling for people who don’t get a chance to go home,” Tran said,
Another group on campus that is reaching out to students is the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, which is hosting a community dinner on Thanksgiving Day for all international students. Chi Alpha wants to help international students learn more about the American Thanksgiving holiday. Although this dinner is targeted at international students, Chi Alpha Organizer Sara Benton said she welcomes all students who want a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Students were also welcomed last night on the Hill at Sprouts Giving, a Thanksgiving feast for all Sproul and Sunset Village residents. Students who went were encouraged to donate a piece of clothing in exchange for a voucher redeemable for prizes.
The clothing will be donated to organizations who help the less fortunate, said Matthew Boyd, a second-year undeclared student.
“It’s basically just a chance for students to show their appreciation and express what they’re thankful for,” Boyd said.
Although most on-campus groups are hosting events honoring the traditional Thanksgiving history, other organizations like MEChA de UCLA hosted dinners with entirely different perspectives.
Thankstaking, MEChA’s community dinner, represents a new take on Thanksgiving that refers to everything that was taken away from minorities in the Americas, said MEChA Chair Patty Alfaro. Thankstaking is always on the Tuesday night before the holiday and provides many educational segments where members talk about the untraditional history of Thanksgiving.
Members discuss the history from the non-European perspective instead of focusing on the traditional story of how Europeans were embraced by the American Indians.
“You kind of get the historical aspect behind Thanksgiving prior to the arrival of the Europeans,” said Ricardo Cueva, MEChA’s associate director of Xinachtli, their outreach program. “It’s like a time for celebration as well, but it’s more so like a time to learn about Thanksgiving through an indigenous aspect.”
Thankstaking was also an opportunity for students of color to share their stories and make Thanksgiving their own, Alfaro said.
Students who attended the dinner shared stories of family hardships, such as struggles through immigration and finding a niche in the United States.
In previous years, MEChA worked with the American Indian Student Association to host Thankstaking, but this year the union decided to do it only with their members, alumni and other community members, said the union Vice President Heather Torres.
After the dinner, AISA worked in collaboration with Mighty Mic and the Darfur Action Committee to screen “The Canary Effect,” a documentary about the massive oppression of the American Indians.
The film served as a counter-story to the traditional American Indian who is depicted as living in harmony with early Americans, Torres said.
From educational dinners on the traditional and nontraditional history of Thanksgiving to donations for those less fortunate, Bruins all over campus are making sure to give back to the community before heading home.