Chenango County teens participating in a free "Cooking with Kate" class. The Place's Teen Program offers a variety of programs and events for local teens year-round, and on Monday, November 20, Chenango County middle and high schoolers are invited to attend the first ever Friendsgiving, hosted at The Place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. (Photo from The Place Facebook page)

NORWICH — The Place Teen Program will be hosting their first ever "Friendsgiving" party from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, November 20 at The Place, located at 22 East Main Street in Norwich.

"Friendsgiving is like Thanksgiving with your friends," explained The Place Teen Program Coordinator Julie Dealing. "We’re having a Thanksgiving dinner. We’re going to have turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pies, all that stuff."

Teens who attend the party are asked to bring a copy of a family holiday recipe they're willing to share, which will be put into a Friendsgiving cookbook. Attendees will be able to take a copy of the cookbook home, and a copy will be retained and added to at future Friendsgiving events.

"The goal with that is that we’re all going to make Friendsgiving cookbooks to take home at the end. So that way all the kids can go home and maybe they can make a new recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas," said Dealing.

The free event is open to middle and high schoolers in Chenango County school districts. Pre-registration is required. To register, scan the QR code on The Place Facebook page.

In addition to Thanksgiving dinner, the first annual Friendsgiving party will also include fall-themed games such as charades and pictionary. They will also be creating a time capsule to be opened and added to in future years.

"We’re also going to do a time capsule, like a Friendsgiving time capsule to keep to open the following Friendsgiving, and then to add to them, look back on all the things that we’re grateful for, stuff like that. So we’ll have little crafts for them to make things to put in that," Dealing said.

Dealing said she's excited to be hosting Friendsgiving for the first time, and that she's grateful for opportunities like this to positively impact Chenango County youth.

"I’m just really thankful for the opportunity to be the Teen Program Coordinator," she said. "I know that probably sounds cliche, but I’ve been able to meet so many people in the community that I otherwise would not have, and I’ve been able to impact kids, which is my goal, is to impact kids positively."

"The fact that I have a group of kids that are excited to have a meal together I think is a huge accomplishment. So I’m thankful for my little Teen Program family that I’ve created."

For more information on Friendsgiving, contact Julie Dealing at teenprogram@theplacenorwich.com or 607-336-9696 ext. 109.

For more information on The Place and their available programs, visit ThePlaceNorwich.com or The Place Facebook page.