The Military-Affiliated Student Center, located on the fifth floor of Memorial Union, is hosting its fourth weekly community dinner for military-affiliated students.

The dinners encourage students and members of the military-affiliated community at Iowa State to gather together as a larger community once a week.

“The main goal behind [community dinners] is to get our community together once a week as a means of either networking or just getting together for the sense of community,” said Christian Russell, a senior studying civil engineering and the head work-study and front desk assistant.

The dinners also promote charity because each meal is free.

“My favorite thing is I usually help out cooking, so I find it rewarding to just make something and everybody be able to enjoy something I made,” Russell said.

This week’s dinner will take place from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Memorial Lutheran Church Student Center at 2228 Lincoln Way across from the Memorial Union. The menu will include venison chili con carne with chips, cheese and an avocado salad, according to the Military-Affiliated Student Center’s website.

Military-affiliated students and student veterans are welcome to attend the weekly dinners, according to the Military-Affiliated Student Center’s website. Military-affiliated students include dependents, Guard, Reserve and ROTC.

The center’s mission is to “be a catalyst to educate, support and empower our military-affiliated students so they are able to succeed in their personal and professional aspirations,” according to the mission and vision statement on the center’s website.

Children, spouses and faculty that have served attend the weekly community dinners, but the majority of the attendees are students.

“Even if you don’t want to talk to anybody or interact, you get a free meal out of it,” Russell said. “At the very least, we are offering up a free meal.”

For the general attendee, however, these dinners offer military-affiliated students the chance to relax at the end of the week and find common ground with others.

“I think for the average person that comes, their favorite part is just getting to take a breath,” Russell said. “School stresses us all out, so to have one night a week where we can just chill out, make jokes and all have a shared background to vent stuff is great.”

To learn more about the community dinners, visit the Military-Affiliated Student Center’s website or Instagram.