Campus and community come together for Thanksgiving

Servant.

This word explains an individual who is a devoted follower or helper. Members of the Baptist Student Union model this term. Throughout the semester the BSU has different events to serve the Southeast student body and Cape Girardeau community.

Some of the events that the BSU does for the students are making care packages before each finals week and handing out free goodies once a month in the University Center. However, the biggest event they have for students is their annual free Thanksgiving meal, which will be held this year at 6 p.m. Nov. 21 at Centenary Methodist Church. This event has hosted many people, ranging from 80-150 people, in the past, and the BSU believes more students will attend this year.

"We just want to provide a welcoming environment for students away from home for people to celebrate Thanksgiving," BSU campus missionary Eric Barb said.

Barb has been the campus missionary for three years, and each fall semester Barb and the leadership team at the BSU plan the dinner. They work with the local churches to have people to serve and prepare food.

"This year I told them to plan for 200, and I'm afraid that won't be enough," Barb said.

This event has been an attraction for many international students because this is one of the only ways they get to partake in Thanksgiving.

Amy Ahrens, a member of the BSU leadership team, said this event is one of the greatest they do all year, and it has the highest student attendance. Ahrens said they serve home cooked meals and get to relax and hang out with other people.

"We really get to serve, but we also get to know people," Ahrens said. "If we can connect with people and let them know who we are great, but our only real goal is to serve people."

Though the meal is a time of relaxing, there is a lot of preparation that goes into this meal. Since the BSU is composed of about 20 students, Barb and the leadership team rally with churches that financially support them to help make this meal happen.

"Our church has been participating for a while," said Jason Davis, associate pastor and minister to students at Bethany Baptist Church. "This will by my third year working with it personally."

Davis got involved when Barb called the surrounding Baptist churches with college ministries and asked if the church would either financially support the event or help serve food. Bethany Baptist Church had helped with the dinners in the past, but with the change of BSU missionaries they had lost contact.

Davis said that many of the older women in the church look forward to the dinner each fall. They always enjoy interaction with the college students even if it is through a meal. Davis' church provides food, servers and drivers that shuttle students from the dorms to the off-campus location.

"Students, don't be afraid to just come out and eat," Davis said. "We just want to love on you and feed you."