LifeSkills, Sigma Nu fraternity and Baptist Campus Ministry hosted a free Thanksgiving meal for Bowling Green individuals in need on Wednesday.

According to its website, LifeSkills is an organization tasked with aiding people who struggle with addiction, mental illness and intellectual disabilities.

Amy Hinton, the community support program manager at LifeSkills said, “Our goal is to just be able to help them to live a life in recovery and help them to be able to have a fulfilling life.”

Gabe Carson, a junior psychological sciences and healthcare administration major, planned the Thanksgiving meal.

Carson said he works at LifeSkills and was involved with BCM before rushing Sigma Nu. Carson said these connections gave him the idea for a co-sponsored Thanksgiving meal.

“Holidays are a hard time for a lot of people,” Carson said. “So even for people to be able to come here and eat with other people and just have that experience, even if they just want to take food and go home, that’s really important for us.”

Luke Alford, a senior mechanical engineering major, is the vice president of BCM. Alford said his passion for helping those in need this Thanksgiving comes from his faith.

“Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors, right?” Alford said.

Michael Satawake, who is homeless, said it is important to remember that homeless people are still people.

“A lot of your upper echelon and your religious people, honestly they look down on us,” Satawake said, “They think that just because we’re in our situation, it’s our fault like it’s something we’ve done, it’s not.”

Alford said he believes religious institutions that look down on homeless people are disconnected from Scripture.

“I think it can come from a source of pride,” Alford said.

Despite people who look down on him, Satawake said he has been to many cities in America but Bowling Green is the only one where the community has been so supportive of the homeless.

Satawake said a lot of community support comes from LifeSkills and he was very thankful for the work it does.

“See I’m bad on mental health, since I was a juvenile, since I was a kid, and, these people have to get on your medicines,” Satawake said.

Britney Sky also attended the free Thanksgiving at LifeSkills. Sky said LifeSkills has helped her with her transition into a woman.

“It’s a big shock to me, and it’s a big change I’m going through, but I’m doing good, and I have a whole lot of support,” Sky said.

Sky said Thanksgiving is an important time of the year for her and she is especially thankful for Sigma Nu and BCM.

“It takes a lot to sacrifice all the time they have and everything that they’re doing so, I’m very very thankful for the hard work that they’re doing,” Sky said.

News Reporter Anthony Clauson can be reached at [email protected].