Thank-Ful Friendsgiving at Cal Poly Humboldt

ARCATA, calif. (KIEM) – The country’s largest Friendsgiving event is back. Cal Poly Humboldt celebrated Friendsgiving today. Participating in a nationwide event called Thank-Ful. The university dining service celebrated community, gratitude, and giving to those in need.

“We’re actually having the biggest interactive teaching kitchen ever,” said James Richards, the Resident District Manager at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Interactive teaching kitchen meaning a station where students make the food themselves. Three hundred campuses across the country are hosting similar events.

“We’re teaching students to make their own Thanksgiving desserts where they get the ingredients, they get to build it themselves and of course, then they get to eat it.”

Standing in the interactive teaching kitchen was Sous-Chef Eileena Canchola.

“So this is basically like an apple and pumpkin pie parfait. We got some mason jars and some kind of crumbled-up pumpkin pie and pumpkin filling,” said Canchola. “And then they just make it themselves.”

Although dessert was self-serve, Humboldt Dining cooked and served a delicious turkey dinner, with vegetarian and vegan options. Fun activities centered around being grateful were also provided by the dining service.

“We have swag, giveaways, a lot of games, face painting, a deejay, and prizes students can win,” said Richards.

As part of the nationwide event, the school dining service will donate 150 meal vouchers, contributing to 45,000 meals donated nationwide.

“We work with a lot of the local food pantries, the on-campus pantry Oh Snap. We also work with Arcada House and Betty Chinn Center down in Eureka,” said Richards. “So we’re giving big donations to all of them as part of this event.”

The thankful event is centered around donating but also highlights the community and bringing people together.

“It’s a really fantastic opportunity to be able to have a couple of events like this every semester to, you know, to share with the students, faculty, and staff of Cal Poly Humboldt, to bring everybody together and just like let’s have a good time,” said John Shermer, the Humboldt Dining Director of Marketing.