Dozens of families enjoyed their first ever Thanksgiving meals in Silver Spring on Sunday evening as part of an effort to bring refugees and their new communities closer together.
More than 500 people took part in the 11th annual Refugees Thanksgiving organized by the African Community Center of the D.C. Metro area. Families in attendance were from more than 14 different countries, including Ukraine and Afghanistan.
The event was about so much more than a meal; it was an opportunity for people from all walks of life to get to know one another, and to understand the difficult journeys many of them faced to get to the United States.
The dinner was also the first time many attendees ever tasted the Thanksgiving staples Americans know and love.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
And while the food may have been unfamiliar, the act of coming together and embracing each other was not.
“It’s a very good tradition to gather the people to sit and talk about their lives. Thanksgiving is good to give thanks to each other...and to bless everything, every one of them,” Ali Ahmad Noori, an Afghan refugee, said.
While many of those gathered on Sunday are still adjusting to life in the U.S. and having to leave their home countries, they said events like the Thanksgiving dinner make things a little easier.
