Thanksgiving program celebrates 50 years of hospitality

Kansas residents open their homes to KU international students

Thanksgiving 2004 marks 50 years since Betty Grimwood started the Thanksgiving Homestay Program for international students from KU in the small farming community of Burns, northeast of Wichita.

The nationally recognized program continues this year for 1,615 international students enrolled at KU who wish to join a U.S. family for all or part of the Thanksgiving break, Nov. 24-28.

The application deadline for families and for international students is Nov. 1 with KU’s office of International Student and Scholar Services.

“Burns, Kansas, is the smallest U.S. community with the biggest foreign diplomatic service in the world,” said Vice President Richard Nixon in 1959 when presenting the Institute of International Education’s Distinguished Service Award to Ed and Betty Grimwood for their role in creating the program.

The Grimwoods are no longer living, but residents of Burns, population 271, continue to participate in the program.

It began when Mrs. Grimwood and her friend Bonnie Lorentz asked neighboring families to share their Thanksgiving holiday with an international student. KU named the program in memory of Mrs. Grimwood after her death in May 1999.

The ISSS coordinates the program that grew from 10 students in 1954 to more than 500 now. The number of Kansas communities participating grew also and has included Burns, Lawrence, Emporia, Eudora, Leawood, Lecompton, Linwood, Overbrook, Tonganoxie, Topeka, Westwood and Kansas City in both Kansas and Missouri.

Area families may host one or more international students from Tuesday evening, Nov. 23, to Sunday afternoon, Nov. 28, or on Thanksgiving day only, Thursday, Nov. 25.

Families interested in hosting international students over Thanksgiving break may contact program coordinator Carol Dias da Silva at 864-3617 or carol@ku.edu.

KU international students
1,615 international students from 115 countries are enrolled at KU for 2004-05. The countries with the largest number of students:
India 252
China 212
Republic of Korea 156
Japan 110
Taiwan 67
Saudi Arabia 61
Canada 41
Malaysia 40
Brazil 32
Indonesia 25