Even while the goal of the holidays is to spend time with your loved ones over dinner, it isn’t always feasible.
People frequently discover that they are unable to spend the holiday alone or return home to their families.In San Francisco, a local meet-up organization has been carrying on a custom where strangers gather at Dolores Park to enjoy a Friendsgiving Potluck.
“Many of my pupils, including many international students, struggled throughout the holidays. Their family is overseas, so they had no idea how to celebrate Thanksgiving or what to do. As a result, I decided to establish this Friendsgiving gathering,” the potluck’s host, Roderick Portales, told CBS News Bay Area.
SF Bable is an international cultural exchange organization founded by Portales. It has been roughly six years since he started holding the potluck.
“I ask everybody to bring not a big dish, but a small dish for everybody to share together,” he stated.
Each year, the custom quickly grew in size. The gathering was open to anyone who might find themselves alone over the holidays, not only international exchange students.
Regretfully, I will not be returning home at this time. And I did want to meet new people and enjoy Thanksgiving with other people,” San Francisco resident Edwin Omorogbe-Akpata told CBS News Bay Area.
Because of his engineering work, he relocated to the Bay Area earlier this year.
Additionally, the gathering serves as a unique gathering for anyone who might be considering relocating to the city.
“You want to make sure that you have the proper personnel and that the place fits before you relocate there. And I thought, “Hey, what a great place to meet other people,” when I came across this online. A man named John, who did not want to reveal his last name, told CBS news Bay Area, “And you know, if they don’t have family or friends in town, they can go make new friends.”
“I feel like I’m building a great community and people stay connected even if they go abroad, they live very far away, they still stay connected to me and also to the other members,” Portales stated.
The lunch helped make Thanksgiving even more special for both friends and strangers.
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