The front of Osmond Lab is draped with a colorful banner this week urging students to have a "turkey-free" Thanksgiving. On the banner, a rainbow-feathered, hand-drawn turkey is quoted saying, "Please don't eat me!"

Hung by the Alliance for Animal Rights (AAR), the banner asks people to consider the meatless Thanksgiving that vegans and vegetarians practice.

Having a meatless or dairy-free diet around Thanksgiving time can be difficult, especially when a bird is the main focus of many people's dinner tables. Sunday night, the Organic Market Co-op of State College, 209 W. Calder Way, organized an organic vegan Thanksgiving dinner, at which all of the food was certified organic and made with no animal products. About 100 students and community members attended the event, complete with music and a reading of a book about children who visit a turkey farm and decide to save the birds from becoming dinner.

"The dinner tonight was like my Thanksgiving, and the other one's just a get-together," said Jon Grindell, an AAR member who is a vegan.

Grindell said that his family is supportive of his vegan diet, but that he could see how some students could experience problems with family that do not understand the reasons for their choice to be vegetarian or vegan.

Many side dishes served on Thanksgiving are vegetarian to begin with, and some are vegan or can be made as vegan with some recipe alteration. There also is a vegetarian turkey substitute called Tofurkey. People purchasing the wheat gluten imitation poultry off its Web site (www.tofurkey.com) receive a full "bird" complete with seitan drumsticks and some vegetarian sides.

Michele Newhard, special projects manager for food services, has been a vegetarian since 1992. She is the staff liaison for the Vegetarian Advisory Board (VAB), which makes suggestions for dining hall meatless options. The VAB sampled a Tofurkey a few years ago. "It's unusual," Newhard said. "It's obviously tofu doctored to mimic the turkey taste."

Newhard said she is not concerned with replacing meat with imitations, but instead makes a special seasonal dish, such as pumpkin soup, for holiday meals.

Other support for organic foods was found on campus yesterday as members of Eco-Action handed out locally organic-grown apples at the Allen Street gates. Rubina Javeri, president of Eco-Action, said the group is handing out 500 more apples tomorrow outside Willard Building to increase awareness about organic foods before a holiday during which a lot of eating will take place.

Maho Hisakawa, president of AAR and a vegan for more than three years, said she fasts on Thanksgiving. "I think, for me, fasting gives me the greatest appreciation for food," she said, citing how many people gorge themselves on the holiday while others starve around the world.

Hisakawa interned at a Farm Sanctuary in New York, where animals that have been rescued from cruel situations are able to live their natural lives. After that experience, she regards the birds that most people consume on Thanksgiving Day as "friends."

"Turkeys are beautiful," she said. "I can't imagine killing one or eating one."

She said veganism has become such a part of her life that she sometimes forgets that other people eat meat. "When I see someone kind, I can't imagine that person eating something that has been killed," she said.

The Farm Sanctuary is an organization that has multiple shelters such as the one where Hisakawa worked. The sanctuary's latest campaign asks people to adopt a turkey instead of eating one for Thanksgiving. Those adopting receive a certificate and a photo of their turkey, as well as a subscription to the organization's newsletter. You can adopt turkeys through the Farm Sanctuary Web site (www.farmsanctuary.org).

The banner and the apples are ways for organizations to bring their message to campus without being harsh. AAR members said the poster is a more passive way of allowing people to consider the turkey-free option, citing that many times animal rights groups are associated with in-your-face techniques. They said they avoid showing violent, shocking images in their advertising because they do not want to force their views on others.

Javeri, who is a vegetarian, said that she is not worried about meat-free food choices this Thanksgiving.

"I think it's more important to remember to spend time with your loved ones . . . focusing on who you're eating with," she said.