On November 20th, ten refugee families enjoyed their first Thanksgiving in the U.S. at Abilene Christian University (ACU) on November 20th. The event was hosted by the ACU for the International Rescue Committee student group and was held at Gardner Hall on the ACU campus. ACU for the IRC serves resettled refugees in Abilene by working with the local IRC office to do service projects, cultural events, and mentoring/English teaching. ACU for the IRC holds donation drives each semester and hosts Thanksgiving and Easter events for refugee families. Refugee families that participated in this year’s Thanksgiving event celebrated the holiday with students and enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving feast for the very first time since their recent arrival to the United States. Refugee family members agreed that the food was delicious; they also enjoyed learning about American Thanksgiving.
In addition, a large number of Abilene community donors and volunteers worked with the IRC to put together Thanksgiving dinner boxes for 30 of Abilene’s recently arrived refugee families. On Tuesday, November 22nd, IRC staff delivered the donated food boxes to refugee families, in plenty of time for them to prepare and enjoy a traditional U.S. Thanksgiving feast. Among the donations received were turkeys, pans, vegetables, spices, rice, beans, fully baked pies and so much more! The IRC in Abilene is grateful for this community support. If you are interested in supporting the IRC in Abilene during the holidays, through activities such as these please contact the IRC at VolunteerAbilene@theIRC.org
