ASU students who couldn’t go home for the holiday still had Thanksgiving dinners on the Tempe campus Thursday, thanks to Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services.

Reaching students mostly through word-of-mouth and Web invitations, OCCSS had a record turnout at its third Annual Thanksgiving Dinner, with more than 150 people attending.

Anticipating a larger crowd, OCCSS added a second session this year, making the afternoon event a total of four hours long.

“Some people come at 11 a.m. and stay until dinner is over at 3 p.m.,” said Amy Greenland, former OCCSS director and current director of the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.

“For every no-show, we had another walk-in,” Greenland said, adding that the annual dinner, funded by the ASU Parents Association, is OCCSS’s most popular event of the year.

“We had people calling in the summer to see if we were having the dinner again,” she said.

Around 30 to 40 percent of attendees were international students who came looking to learn about American traditions, Greenland said.

“There are students who have never seen a bottle of whipped cream before and have no idea what it is or how to use it,” she said. “And then there are American students right there next to them, teaching them about it.”

Despite the large number of international students who attend the dinner, there is no typical guest, Greenland said.

“We have traditional 18- and 19-year-olds and then 70-somethings,” she said.

Rhonda Hemming, an OCCSS student worker and special and elementary education senior, said the diverse attendees are what keep the dinner going each year.

“We have people from all walks of life: adults, commuters, international students, residence hall students and faculty members,” she said.

Many students are exposed for the first time to the OCCSS center during the dinner, Hemming said.

“Students come to a place that they don’t know, but they know is safe because it’s ASU,” she said. “People always tell us: ‘If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be anywhere.’”

Matt Miles, an economics freshman from Minnesota, said he wouldn’t have celebrated Thanksgiving if not for the ASU dinner.

“I couldn’t go home to be with my family, so it’s nice to come here with friends,” he said.

Derek Cardinale, a geography and urban planning junior and community assistant at Cholla Apartments on the Tempe campus, said he usually encourages his out-of-state residents to go for the free meal.

“With things the way they are now, it’s good to be able to get some free grub,” he said.

Attending the dinner is free for students, but OCCSS requests one thing from its guests.

“The only requirement is that you take a plate home with you,” Hemming said. “It’s not Thanksgiving without the leftovers.”

Reach the reporter at jessica.testa@asu.edu.