While some students decide to head home for Thanksgiving break each November, many students stay on campus for the five day respite, either by choice or because they don’t have another option available. In that case, what do Smithies get up to when campus quiets down? One option for the break is the Thanksgiving Match Program facilitated by Jan Morris, the Wellness Assistant at the Schacht Center for Health and Wellness.
The aim of the program is to match volunteer hosts with current students who would like to join a Smith-affiliated family in celebrating Thanksgiving. Hosts can be current faculty or staff members, and sometimes even alumnae. The holiday dinner is a perfect opportunity to connect with other members of the Smith community.
This year marks the tenth annual Thanksgiving Match Program. “It started because my cousin who lives nearby has two daughters adopted from China who, at the time, were still in grade school. My cousin wanted to know if perhaps there were any Chinese students from the region of China that her daughters came from that they might host for Thanksgiving,” said Morris. Considering the large population of international students that Smith houses, it seemed vital to have a program like this on campus to foster connection and community.
In 2010 Morris successfully matched 10 hosts with 14 students, and since then the program has grown in popularity. This year she matched 14 hosts with 29 students! She received a total of 35 student applications, so some were not able to be matched, but this simply speaks to the effectiveness and popularity of the program.
“My favorite part of the process is the match-making!” said Morris. The process works like this: both participating hosts and students are asked to complete questionnaires that cover all necessary topics, such as dietary restrictions, food and animal related allergies, etc. She even tries to match students who may miss certain pets back home with host families that have similar pets. The comfort of the student and the host is of the utmost importance — therefore, she considers things like whether the participants would be more comfortable with a large or small gathering, or whether she can match a student with a host family that shares similar interests.
Morris has also found that it works well to send two Smithies to a host family together, which can make the whole experience less intimidating and allows participating students to make new friends on campus. Once the match-making is done, students and hosts are put in contact to work out the details of their holiday plans.
Now in her 10th year of facilitating this program, Morris has received a lot of positive feedback. One past participating student said, “Honestly, I can’t think of only one [favorite] thing because everything was fun!” The Thanksgiving Match Program provides an easy, accessible way to bring members of the Smith community together. It is facilitated with endless amounts of love and care. “I love bringing people together from varying cultures,” Morris says. At the end of the day, the program is perfectly designed for the spirit of the holidays — it has proven to successfully foster love and goodwill in our Smith community.
If you missed out on the opportunity this November, don’t worry! There’s always next year!
