Brookings families cooked home meals for a record 1,000 SDSU students

Brookings families fed 1,000 South Dakota State University students at home on Monday night for Hobo Day's Bum-A-Meal, the Brookings Beacon reported on October 20, 2026. Last year the count was 780. Coordinator Ellie Mergen, a junior from Sioux Falls, said this was the biggest group yet and that demand was high enough that some students still had to be turned away. She started asking hosts in May.

The custom goes back to early homecomings, when students walked to the train station to meet the visiting football team and neighbors handed them food on the way back. That food became "bum stew" on campus. This week's version is a seat at a table. First-time hosts Jerad and Carolyn Poss, with neighbors Nate and Lindsey Davis, had four freshmen and four seniors over. Larry and Sandy Sutton have hosted with friends Lyle Bowes and Jennifer Satter since 2022 and keep a photo album of names, hometowns, and majors. Mergen said the evening works because students leave campus, hosts tell Hobo Day stories, and somebody who is not a dining hall does the cooking.