Thousands of turkeys later, retired Ann Arbor teachers keep a Thanksgiving tradition alive

ANN ARBOR, MI - Don Horning knows that 156 turkeys will not fit inside a car. A truck will do the trick.

He knows this from experience. The retired Ann Arbor teacher has for decades quietly assembled birds, pies and Thanksgiving fixings by the dozens each November and given them to families who need them.

“It’s a need that’s out there, and we’re glad to do it,” the 82-year-old said. “There’s really no way we’ll stop during the amount of time I’ll be on Earth. As long as we’re healthy, we’ll do it.”

The meal donations are a Thanksgiving tradition for Horning, his wife Skip, family members and friends that dates back to the 1970s.

Then, Horning taught at Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor with fellow physical education teacher Rob Lillie, for whom the school’s gym is now named.

“I think we were just sitting in the office one day and said why don’t we get food for some of these people who otherwise wouldn’t eat much,” Horning said. “We said why not check into turkey dinners. So we did.”

The pair of teachers started by buying readymade turkeys that came complete with cranberry sauce, rolls, gravy, mashed potatoes and a vegetable dish — a $20 bargain that fed a family of four.

They hand-delivered the meals to students who were signed up to receive free or reduced-priced lunches at Tappan. And kept doing it, year after year.

Things only ramped up when Horning retired around 1995.

He and his partners in the turkey-day distributions contacted principals at Ann Arbor’s Bryant and Northside elementary schools and identified students and families who could use the donations, Horning said.

They began to shift away from boxed meals to buy whole turkeys, pumpkin pies and vegetables, providing more food for less money.

“It was more work, but we did it,” Horning said.

Horning has taken donations from friends and family to fund the yearly meals and says nobody involved gets paid for their trouble. According to his brother, Bob Horning, the retired teacher has also made up the difference when the sum isn’t enough.

“He doesn’t broadcast it or anything, but he’s always been generous, gives to people, gives to his church,” Bob Horning said.

This year, Horning, Lillie and relatives distributed 156 turkeys and pumpkin pies.

Since the mid-’90s, they’ve done between 100 and 150 a year, Horning said, a sum that amounts to a ballpark estimate of more than 3,000 meals in that time.

Recognizing the need not just in Ann Arbor but across the county, Horning said after serving the Ann Arbor elementaries for a year he contacted leaders of Peace Neighborhood Center, as well as Ypsilanti’s Hope Clinic and ACCE High School to supply them with some of the food.

These days, the group picks up turkeys and fixings a few days before Thanksgiving and delivers them to the schools and nonprofit organizations, where they’re then picked up by families.

Horning and his helpers show up to Meijer and Costco with a truck from The M Den, the University of Michigan merchandise retailer where one of Horning’s sons is a part owner and Horning also worked for a time.

“Without The M Den and my wife and our families, we wouldn’t get it done. It would just be too big,” Horning said.

It’s a ritual that will repeat itself later this year.

After once finding himself with extra donations after Thanksgiving, Horning said he used the excess to buy hams to give away at Christmas.

That also became a tradition, and this year they’ll do the same, planning on giving away more than 100.

“We’ll keep doing it until, I guess, we can’t,” Horning said.

Ann Arbor