Dashew Center, Gen Rep 3 to provide Thanksgiving meals

Chloe Liu spent her first Thanksgiving at UCLA in her friend’s apartment eating homemade Chinese food for three days.

While many other students on her floor went home, Liu, a second-year communications studies student from China, said she enjoyed the holiday with friends at school.

For more than 300 students staying on the Hill during Thanksgiving weekend, there are limited options for eating. All dining halls close Wednesday after lunch and do not open again until Sunday for dinner, with the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars providing only two opportunities for meals for students throughout that time.

Though Liu did not attend the events at the Dashew Center last year, she said she thinks they are useful to students and that it is a good idea to provide a space for international students to get together during holidays.

This Thanksgiving, some student representatives and the Dashew Center are organizing multiple events and providing off-campus deals for students staying at UCLA for the holiday weekend.

Fabienne Roth, Undergraduate Students Association Council’s General Representative 3 and third-year English and political science student, ran for office on a platform of representing the international community at UCLA. One way she hoped to do so was by accommodating that community during holidays, such as Thanksgiving break, she said.

Roth’s office planned to bring two or three food trucks to the Hill each day of the weekend while dining halls were closed.

With everything set to begin, Roth said she and her office were disappointed to hear about a week ago that the Residential Life administration cancelled the food trucks’ appearance because her office failed to obtain permits for the trucks two months in advance.

The USAC office improvised a new way to reach out to students staying on campus for the holiday. The office worked together with Westwood restaurants to provide coupons and deals to students with BruinCards in the area during this weekend, Roth said.

Some examples of deals that restaurants are offering are 15 percent off at both New India Grill and Garlo’s Aussie Pie Shop, and buy two pizzas and get the third free at Open Oven Pizzeria with a Bruin ID, said Malavika Chugh, a third-year economics and global studies student and international student. Chugh is also an International Students Advocacy director in the General Representative 3 office.

In addition to the USAC office’s efforts to provide food for students staying on the Hill during Thanksgiving, the Dashew Center is holding two events this weekend.

A potluck dinner will be held in Bradley Hall Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. The event can accommodate up to 250 students, and administrators will provide the basics, such as turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. Students attending this event are encouraged to bring additional food such as salad, dessert or beverages. Registration for the potluck dinner is open until Wednesday.

Shideh Hanassab, director of the Dashew Center, said that last year the event was full.

The Dashew Center, UCLA Alumni Association, Guardian Scholars Program and UCLA Extension are also holding an event this Thursday where international students team up with local families and spend Thanksgiving dinner with them.

More than 100 families will be participating this year and each hosts around two students, Hanassab said.

The General Representative 3 office has launched a media outreach campaign on Facebook to spread the word about deals in Westwood, while the Dashew Center has posted information about its upcoming events on its website.

Even with the Dashew Center’s events on campus, many students on and off campus during Thanksgiving weekend said they have tried to make the best of the situation in past years.

Jay Diep, a fourth-year biology and anthropology student, and his floor mates had a Thanksgiving feast, including turkey, chicken and mashed potatoes from Whole Foods Market, and a couple dorm-made key lime pies, in Rieber Hall during their second year at UCLA.

Diep said his few floor mates staying on campus for Thanksgiving created a video wishing their friends a happy Thanksgiving, and posted it on their floor’s Facebook page.

Theodore Wu, a fourth-year neuroscience student, said that as a first-year he was unaware that the Dashew Center provides meals during Thanksgiving weekend. That year, he went home to Maryland for the holiday, but for the last two years he spent it at UCLA with friends or with their families nearby, he said.

Wu said he and his roommates plan on making mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey and spaghetti this year, and they plan to share their food with other guests in their apartment.

Instead of staying on campus again this year, Liu said she plans to spend Thursday night at one of her professor’s homes. Marde Gregory, a lecturer in the UCLA Department of Communication Studies, invited her entire Communication Studies 1: “Principles of Oral Communication” class to join her and her family for dinner, Liu said.