Our Story
“No one need dine alone on Thanksgiving.”
Community Thanksgiving Dinner Foundation
It started with
neighbors.
Two years after the 1966 tornado, people in East Topeka were still recovering. Addie Spicher and Pauline Johnson wanted neighbors who had nowhere to go on Thanksgiving to have a meal and company.
They organized the first dinner in 1968 at East Topeka United Methodist Church, at S.E. 7th and Lime. Volunteers prepared donated food, from turkey to pumpkin pie. Pauline later recalled 69 people coming to that first meal.
It wasn’t planned as an annual event. But they held another dinner in 1969, and more people came. Before Addie died in 1974, she asked Pauline to do what she could to keep it going. Pauline carried that wish forward.
As the gathering outgrew the church, it moved to the Mid-America Fairgrounds in the early 1970s, then the National Guard Armory and the Municipal Auditorium. By the late 1980s, Agricultural Hall had become its home.
Early history drawn from Phil Anderson’s reporting forThe Topeka Capital-Journal, including his interview with Pauline Johnson for the dinner’s 50th year.
In 2008, the Kansas Senate honored Pauline for forty years of service to the dinner and the people of Topeka.
Read the Senate tribute to Pauline (PDF)A dinner that
kept growing.
In a 2021 interview, Pauline and her son Myron recalled the people who built the dinner together, and how a small gathering grew to serve thousands of meals.
Myron described another milestone: incorporation in 2005, giving the volunteer effort a formal foundation.
Watch Pauline and Myron on KTWU’s Inspire
Watch the interviewKTWU / PBS · Inspire, November 3, 2021
Keeping the
meal going.
The pandemic changed how neighbors could gather. In 2021, the dinner was organized around home deliveries instead of a shared meal at Agricultural Hall.
Today, the invitation brings people together at Stormont Vail Events Center, with delivery arrangements for neighbors who cannot attend. Preparing the food, serving a plate, or helping clear the hall still takes people willing to give their time.
Read United Way’s 2021 volunteer announcement
The people behind the dinner.
The Foundation’s board helps turn a year of planning into a Thanksgiving meal shared across Topeka. Its members coordinate the food, volunteers, deliveries, donations, and many details that bring the dinner together.
They work alongside neighbors who give their time and support to carry the tradition forward.
Contact the FoundationThe invitation
is still open.
A free Thanksgiving dinner for the Topeka community.Everyone is welcome.