LYNN — A “Multicultural Thanksgiving Day Celebration” at Pathways Inc. on Tuesday featured a different kind of blended family.
Adult education students from 18 different countries, who are taking classes at the organization, cooked, prepared and served food from their native cultures throughout the day.
Depending on what time their classes were, the students took part in a holiday breakfast, lunch or dinner, which gave them an opportunity to give back and experience each other’s cultures, according to Ivette Martinez, director of student support services for Pathways.
“It’s a way they have to say ‘thank you,’ (which) is through food,” Martinez said. “They consider this to be their family.”
Formerly known as Operation Bootstrap, Pathways has been an adult education provider on the North Shore for more than 40 years. Adults can take courses such as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Adult Basic Education and classes through a career pathways training program, according to the Pathways website.
Clara Holguin, 54, one of the organizers of the Thanksgiving lunch, said through an interpreter that the time off from classes gives the students a chance to build relationships with each other. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Holguin is taking ESOL classes.
“We like to get to know each other and different cultures through their foods,” said Carlos Martenez, 65, through an interpreter. “That’s how we get to know each other better.”
Martenez, who is taking an ESOL class, brought pasteles, which are similar to tamales, and bollitos de yuca, cheese-filled Cassava balls to the afternoon meal. Both are traditional dishes in the Dominican Republican, where he immigrated from.
“We’ve been doing this (Thanksgiving celebration) for years,” said Edward Tirrell, Pathways CEO. ” It’s actually quite amazing because these are folks who don’t have a lot and they’re eager to share.”
The celebration started as one meal at dinnertime for all students and their families, but it was “chaos,” Martinez said. To pare that down, the event later changed to consist of three separate meals for morning, afternoon and evening students.
The change was also made to reinforce a sense of community, Tirrell added. More than 90 students took part in the breakfast, where 55 meals were served. The afternoon session was small, but another 65 meals were expected to be brought for dinner, he said.
Food served included pumpkins from Russia, chicken and rice from Afghanistan, chuchitos from Guatemala, guacamole from Mexico, and couscous from Morocco.
“It’s always a really nice event,” Tirrell said. “Students step up readily.”
