Residents in College Village have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday. Beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 24, the Resident Assistants (RA) and College Village staff at Genesee Community College will prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for students in the Village Hall of College Village.

The meal is free to student residents and will include turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and of course, pumpkin pie.

On average, 100 to 150 students attend the annual dinner. For many, this will be their only Thanksgiving celebration. And for international students, this may be the first time they've experienced the holiday or tasted the traditional fare. Resident Assistants spend most of the day preparing the meal, working around their classes, activities and other school functions. College Village staff is kept busy by running to and from apartments double checking on the cooking, especially the turkey.

"This year we have many new Resident Assistants who have never cooked for a Thanksgiving Dinner before," said Ellen Brokaw, assistant director of Residence Life at College Village. "There's going to be a lot of training involved, but the RA staff this year is fantastic and I'm sure this year will be a great success. The RA Thanksgiving dinner always ensures a very busy but fun day!"

Prior to the meal, Lauren Paisley, instructor of business and advisor for the International Student Organization, will give a presentation on the history and traditions associated with Thanksgiving. The International Student Organization assists Genesee's international students in making the transition into a new environment. The group promotes cultural awareness, while serving as a support network for the educational and social development of foreign students. The presentation will begin at 5 p.m. with the Thanksgiving meal immediately following.

This is the fifth year that College Village has provided a free Thanksgiving dinner to students.

For further information, please contact Ellen Brokaw at 343-0163 or by e-mail ecbrokaw@genesee.edu.

Town of Batavia FD is on scene at College Village building G (Spruce Hall) for a fire alarm. Response appears to be Rescue, Heavy Rescue, and at least one Chief. The cause of the alarm is not known to me at this time. More info when available.

Update (9:50 PM): This may end up being a non-story as they've already left. Response was Rescue 20, Rescue 24 and appeared to also include two chiefs. The dual-Rescue response has been fairly unusual in the past and that combined with everything arriving in a group led me to believe there might be something confirmed active, but appears to have simply been for the lighting abilities of those rigs. I don't have access to a scanner, so until I hear details from someone all I know is that the FD has been called.

Friday moning (8/28/09) at approximately 2:00 AM, fire alarms were activated in Beech and Cedar Halls (Buildings B and C) at College Village. Initial response was two Town of Batavia Fire Department chiefs and Engine 21, with one Genesee County Sherriff's Office patrol car and two New York State Police patrol vehicles arriving shortly afterward. During the investigation Beech Hall's alarm activated a second time. At approximately 2:25 AM residents were allowed back into their rooms. Information regarding cause, etc. is currently unavailable due to lack of an appropriate time to ask officials who were on-scene.

More photos as well as personal comments "after the jump..."