‘Alarmingly high’: Topeka Thanksgiving dinner swamped with meal requests

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Organizers of an annual Topeka Thanksgiving tradition are rising to the challenge of making sure no one dines alone this year.

The Community Thanksgiving Dinner is a long-running feature of the Topeka community that has been going strong for 58 years. However, the organization is facing increased pressure in 2025 from locals who need food assistance amid the ongoing government shutdown and recent cutbacks to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Valeria Thornburg, delivery driver coordinator for the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, told 27 News on Nov. 4 that her organization is receiving numerous call requests for food this year. She called the number of requested deliveries “alarmingly high” for early November.

“Already we have quite a few delivery orders over and above previous years to an alarming degree due to recent cutbacks,” Thornburg said.

Thornburg said the hotline for meal requests opened on Nov. 1. In the days since it opened, locals have placed between 300-400 requests for food.

“On the first day we had 53 calls,” Thornburg said.

The Community Thanksgiving Dinner typically doesn’t start to receive an uptick in calls to the hotline until the week of Nov. 14. Thornburg said the dinner usually takes care of 1,500 to 2,000 meals overall each year.

“Already to have a quarter of that by the fourth day is a lot,” Thornburg said.

Despite the heightened demand, Thornburg said the Community Thanksgiving Dinner is hoping to match the spike in requests and ensure its mission to provide meals to the community is completed this year. The organization is working hard to ensure that people who attend the sit-down dinner or apply for deliveries get what they need.

“We are really driven even now to make sure that nobody dines alone on Thanksgiving,” Thornburg said. “We are not daunted by increasing numbers, we are not daunted by increasing need.”

People can pitch in to help the Community Thanksgiving Dinner by making food or cash donations or signing up to volunteer. You can drop off non-perishable food donations at all participating fire stations in Topeka such as:

• Canned green beans.
• Canned sweet potatoes.
• Boxed dressing.
• Boxed instant potatoes.
• Canned jellied cranberry sauce.
• Canned chicken broth.

The Community Thanksgiving Dinner accepts cash donations to offset the cost of perishable food items. These can be made at all CoreFirst Bank locations in the city or mailed to CTDF; PO Box 432, Topeka, KS 66601. People who want to volunteer can sign up by clicking here.

The meal hotline can be reached at 785-289-8660 and will remain open until 4 p.m. on Nov. 20. The sit-down Community Thanksgiving Dinner is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. on Nov. 27 inside Exhibition Hall inside the Stormont Vail Events Center at One Expocentre Dr. in Topeka. For more information, check out the dinner’s Facebook page.

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