Students feasted for turkey day early at the Park Student Union on Monday.
Dinner lasted from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and included turkey, stuffing, vegetables, a bread roll, a choice of pie and a drink. Students shuffled in to form a line to collect their $7.99 meal on a Styrofoam take-out plate, and then sat in a decorated area of the dining hall.
Lupita Lopez, the retail manager at the PSU, was behind the operations of putting together the Thanksgiving meal.
“”It’s something that had been done at the old student union, but we revived it and started doing it again six years ago,”” she said.
Lopez said she expected about 100 to 150 people to show up. Preparations for the meal began 24 hours in advance.
“”We just wanted to say thank you to all the students,”” she added. “”We decorate the hall and we’re trying to provide a Thanksgiving atmosphere for students who stay on campus and don’t go home for Thanksgiving,”” she added.
Andrew Trickey-Glassman and Juan Chavez, both aerospace engineering freshmen, ate at the union’s Thanksgiving dinner together.
“”It’s really good,”” Trickey-Glassman said. He’ll be flying back home to New Mexico on Wednesday, where he will have a second Thanksgiving meal with his immediate family. Both men are looking forward to “”stuffing their faces”” with food on Thanksgiving, and “”definitely football the next day.””
Alex Nunez, a history sophomore, said he usually dines at the union because it is conveniently located close to his dorm, Coronado Residence Hall. He saw flyers advertising the Thanksgiving dinner, but hadn’t heard of it otherwise.
“”The food is actually really, really good,”” he said. His Thanksgiving meal back home in Phoenix is “”basically the same”” except “”we have the basics at my grandparents’ house, but we also always have tamales,”” Nunez said.
“”I’m looking forward to all the array of good food,”” he added.
Lopez and other staff members at the union set up tables and decorated them.
“”We got the word out on Facebook with the Arizona Student Unions account, by word of mouth and flyers,”” she said. “”We also have sophomores and juniors who know about it and keep coming back.””
The event was put on to give students a chance to celebrate the holiday with their friends.
“”Friends are your family here on campus, your substitute family that you make at UA,”” Lopez said. “”This dinner is the one time you get to spend Thanksgiving with your adoptive school family, then go home and have dinner with your family. A lot of times even students who go home to their families wish they could invite friends to join them, but sometimes friends live across the country, and this is their last chance to eat together and celebrate.””
Highland Market will be putting on the same type of dinner today, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Paul Carter, supervisor of Highland Market, said they have prepared enough food for 150 people.
“”We’ve been doing this for about four or five years now, and we’ve just been set on that number so I don’t think we’ll run out,”” he said. “”It’s just a nice dinner to give back to students before they go home for their own Thanksgiving.””
