“Our first Thanksgiving day was amazing,” Orrego Villegas told CNN. “All food is divine.”
On October 26, she posted a photo of herself and her husband on the Nextdoor app to ask if anyone would be willing to share Thanksgiving dinner with them. In the post, she wrote, “We are a super lovely couple and wanted to know more about American culture. I wanted to celebrate our first traditional Thanksgiving with an American family.”
The post received hundreds of responses from neighbors asking them to sit at their dinner table in the town a few miles southwest of Boston. But the nursing student, Carol Lesser, was the chosen host for the couple.
“She got a lot of offers where to go,” Lesser told CNN. “I said to her, ‘Well, we won the lottery. You are coming to us! “
The kindness of strangers
And on Thursday, the couple joined Lesser and more than 20 other guests for the holiday around a traditional table filled with turkey, stuffed meat and chickpeas.
Orrego Villegas told CNN about their experience and how welcoming Lesser and her family were. “We not only ate a delicious meal, but also talked to each member of the family. We felt like part of the shell.”
“We felt there was an instant connection,” Lesser told CNN. “They stayed eight hours and talked to people. We discovered a lot of similarities.”
Neighbors even discussed turning things around by letting Lesser visit the couple’s hometown in Colombia.
For Lesser, the decision to open the door to strangers was an easy one. She told CNN that for nearly 30 years, she’s been renting out rooms in her home to international students from the area.
“When I was young, I traveled and without the kindness of strangers, I wouldn’t have learned as much as I have about cultures,” says Lesser.
She added that the message Orrego Villegas posted was destabilizing.
“This beautiful woman’s post spoke to me. She’s really curious about what we do here during the holidays.”
A candle in the dark
Other neighbors who weren’t around for Thanksgiving have offered to meet the couple another time, and the couple has been spending time with a few families even before the holiday.
“The people are very friendly,” said Orrego Villegas. “One family gave us a book about American heritage and the other showed us pictures when they visited Colombia.”
Orrego Villegas and Lesser both say the experience has given them hope for the community. Two women express the importance of being a candle in the dark and being kind to those around them.
Orrego Villegas says her view of the Bostonians has changed. “In Boston, my first impression is that many people don’t say hello on the street. After this post, I realized that people are very kind and welcoming.”
Lesser says she’s looking for moments where people can approach and trust each other.
“It’s a no-brainer to me, acting as if what you do makes a difference,” says Lesser. “Right.”
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