More than 60 local school children piled pizza, nachos and cookies onto their plates in Burke Dining Hall Monday afternoon, compliments of University of Alabama students who donated a meal from their meal plan.

Meaningful Meals, a joint project by SGA and Bama Dining, asked UA students to donate a meal from their meal plans so a local child could have a hot meal for Thanksgiving.

Keith Edwards, SGA assistant director of communications for financial affairs, said more than 100 meals were donated.

“We wanted to use it as an alternative to a toy drive,” Edwards said. “It’s hard for a college student to donate a $20 toy, so we thought this was a good alternative.”

Students from Oakdale Elementary School, ranging from second to fifth grade, also got the chance to do some Thanksgiving-themed crafts and activities and received a special visit from Big Al.

All the children were part of Al’s Pals, the University’s mentor program for local elementary school children, and their mentors were there to share the meal with them.

Ashley Torres, a junior majoring in elementary education, mentors a fifth grader in the program. She said she hopes Meaningful Meals will become a tradition for Al’s Pals.

“I hope it makes them excited for college and lets them know they have a family here,” Torres said. “We’re not just their mentors; we’re their friends.”

SGA Executive Secretary Brielle Appelbaum, who created Meaningful Meals, came up with the idea while she was an Al’s Pals mentor last year.

“I fell in love with the children and knew I wanted to help them in some way,” Appelbaum said.

Appelbaum said Al’s Pals has been trying to do something like this for years, and they are excited to finally have the opportunity. She hopes to continue Meaningful Meals and expand it to include multiple meals per semester and involve more schools in the area. It’s a simple way for students to give back, she said.

“I wanted a different way to give back to children during the holidays,” she said. “So many students have the ability to donate a meal. We’ll always have new freshmen with meals to donate.”

Gabreona Jones, a fifth grader from Oakdale, said she to wants study music at the University when she gets older and was excited to visit.

“I like that we get to come to college with our mentors and see what they do every day on campus,” Jones said.

A lot of the children are at-risk students or have the potential to be at-risk when they get older, Appelbaum said. She hopes Meaningful Meals is a first step for the children to realize how important school is and to encourage their desire to attend the University.

“This is something they have to look forward to when they get older,” she said. “Going to a college dining hall may not have a huge impact on someone like us, but if you’re a hungry child, it can have an impact for years to come.”