Options available to students for surviving Thanksgiving

Katie Higgins

Hungry? Why wait?

Three days until plentiful bliss — turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy — can make one’s mouth water. However, what happens if that homemade meal is just out of reach and bare college cupboards are all that is there to choose from?

There is no need to starve on Thanksgiving because the city of Logan is eager to help.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to Angie’s Restaurant on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Saboor Sahely, owner of Angie’s, also wanted to extend a special invitation to all international students who will not be going home for the holidays.

“I’ve been there and done that [not being able to go home], and it’s not easy to be alone,” Sahely said.

The restaurant has been sponsoring this free dinner for about 10 years. A traditional dinner of turkey and all the trimmings, beverages and bread are all free of charge, Sahely said.

Angie’s Restaurant opened about 20 years ago and has grown to be one of the most influential restaurants in the valley.

“I’m convinced we have to give something back to the valley,” Sahely said. “We started out as a very small business with practically

nothing.”

Each year, after eating Thanksgiving dinner, patrons are welcome to leave contributions as they leave. All donations are sent to a charity.

“Each year we choose a different charity and we try to make our rounds so that we contribute to everyone,” Sahely said.

This year, all donations will go to the Cache Humane Society. All money raised will go toward helping it build a new shelter.

“We’ve been helping humans for so long, it’s time we helped the animals,” Sahely said.

“We have been very successful and we look forward to it every year,” Sahely said. “Our employees love it.”

The Cache Community Food Pantry is also willing to help serve the community. The food pantry receives all food and then distributes it to low-income families in the area.

The pantry received about 60 thousand pounds of dry food Saturday. On Tuesday, starting at 10 a.m., the food pantry will deliver Thanksgiving dinner boxes to needy families.

The pantry has about 150 families on their list each week and will also serve people who have called and requested a box, said Joyce Tarbet, director of the pantry.

This program started at Utah State University as the USU Thanksgiving dinner program. It fell out, however, and is now run by the food pantry. USU helps by sponsoring food drives around campus and the surrounding areas and sending their collections to the pantry to be distributed.

“The students are wonderful,” Tarbet said. “They are so fun to work with. There’s not a student in the valley who does not donate food.”

Even if college friends are the only company available, it does not mean starvation and boredom are ineveitable. The following recipe from Better Crocker can spruce up any dull Thanksgiving.

–klm@cc.usu.edu

Cornbread Stuffing:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3 medium celery stalks, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

3/4 cup chopped onion

9 cups 1/2-inch cubes corn bread or soft bread

1 tsp. chopped fresh sage leaves or 1/2 tsp. dried sage leaves, crumbled

1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Melt butter in 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook celery and onion in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender; remove from heat. Stir together celery mixture and remaining ingredients in large bowl.