Goodman Community Center | Thanksgiving Baskets

Thanksgiving Basket Drive

That's a wrap! What a year it was for talking turkey and gravy, veggies, butter and rolls.

Make a Donation

2023 Thanksgiving Basket Drive

For the past 35 years, our Thanksgiving Basket Drive has been a tradition, with many long-serving staff, volunteers and their children returning year after year. It takes a village, that’s for certain.

This year, we registered more than 4,000 families for a Thanksgiving Basket filled with all the groceries needed for a traditional holiday meal — that’s more than 25,000 Dane County residents (including 10,000 children!). These families were counting on us and YOU, and boy did you deliver! From frozen turkeys to monetary donations, you turned out for our neighbors.

The need was so great this year that we actually ran out of food on Monday. Thanks to your generous monetary donations, we were able to give more than 100 families an IOU, shop Monday evening and give those families a basket on Tuesday morning.

Once again, our community came together, and we're so grateful for that.

    Thanks to our partners:

    A Look at Distribution Weekend

    We depend on community members to make this epic effort happen, including hundreds of volunteers. Here's a look at the people who work so hard to make Thanksgiving a success. Thank you to everyone in our community for your support!

    “I am a working mom of three. With bills and the cost to run a household, my children and I depend on food pantries. This program allows me to provide a nice Thanksgiving meal for my family. Thank you all so much for your kindness and donations.”

    Events

    We are so thankful for community partners, businesses and organizations that host events to support our Thanksgiving Basket program.

    Check Out 2023's Events
    A group of people  making the letter "W" for Wisconsin with their hands, standing behind carts loaded with groceries

    Badgers Give Back

    The Goodman Community Center's Thanksgiving Basket Drive is very thankful for our partnership with Wisconsin Badgers and the UW's Badgers Give Back. Wisconsin Athletics is proud to continue its strong tradition of fighting hunger in the community.

    Read more about this program

    For more information about our Thanksgiving Basket Drive contact:

    Francesca Frisque

    Assistant Director of Food Pantry
    email hidden; JavaScript is required
    JavaScript is required to reveal this message.

    Thank you to our 2023 sponsors!

    Each year, we can only achieve our goal because of organizations that pull together and contribute tremendous amounts of food, money and time to help us organize it all. Thank you to these sponsors for giving the gift of a holiday meal to families in our community.

    Daffodil*Parker Flower Shop | Festival Foods | Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin | Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison | Hooper Corporation | Hy-Vee | Idun Lodge - Sons of Norway | Lake Ridge Bank | Metro Market | Old National Bank | Slow Roll Cycles | St. Bernard Catholic Church | Stevens Construction Corp. | Sweet Orchard Outreach Ministries

    Amtelco | Anaala Salon and Spa | Anthology | Assumption Greek Orthodox Church | Goodman's Jewelers | Gunderson Funeral Home | Hoey Apothecary | Hoffman Manufacturing Corp | Ian’s Pizza | Isthmus Eye Care | James Reeb Unitarian Universalist Congregation | Kirch Appliance Inc | Orange Tree Imports | Plymouth Congregational UCC | Ramaker and Associates | St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church | Starkweather Brewing | SVA Certified Public Accountants | Working Draft Beer Company

    If your business or organization is interested in sponsoring our 2024 Thanksgiving Basket Drive, contact Meghan Johnson, Corporate Giving and Events Manager, at mjohnson@goodmancenter.org or 608-204-8033. Click here to view our sponsorship levels.