Thanksgiving homestay program marks half-century in Burns
Thanksgiving 2004 marks 50 years since Betty Grimwood of Burns started the visitation program for international students from the University of Kansas.
It began when Grimwood and her friend Bonnie Lorentz asked neighboring families to share their Thanksgiving holiday with an international student. The practice continued year after year.
The program and the town gained international recognition.
In 1959, then Vice President Richard Nixon presented the Institute of International Education's Distinguished Service Award to Betty and her husband, Ed, for their role in creating the homestay program.
"Burns, Kansas, is the smallest U.S. community with the biggest foreign diplomatic service in the world," Nixon said.
The homestay program was featured in the Sept. 5, 1959, Saturday Evening Post.
After Betty Grimwood's death in May 1999, KU named the program in her memory. That year, the traditional post-Thanksgiving community dinner at Burns with international students was held especially in her honor.
Posters made over the years by KU international students as they visited Burns were displayed along with notes from KU alumni from around the world.
The program produced bonds of friendship which have endured for many years.
Carmen Libertino of Houston is an alumnus of the first Burns Thanksgiving in 1954, when she was a post-graduate student in bacteriology from Colombia. She attended Grimwood's funeral services.
Libertino said she regarded Betty Grimwood and Bonnie Lorentz as adopted mothers and kept in touch with them over the years. The Grimwoods sponsored Libertino when she wanted to immigrate to the United States.
"I think the success of the Burns Thanksgiving was that all foreign students are lonely," she said. "These people didn't ask anything of you. They just showed you the heart of America."
International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) at KU coordinates the program. It has grown from 10 students in 1954, to more than 500 at present as more communities have become involved.
There are more than 1,600 international students enrolled at KU who may be invited to join a U.S. family for all or part of the Thanksgiving break, Nov. 24-28.
Application deadline for families and international students is Monday.
The fact remains, no matter how many communities participate, the annual event will continue to be known as the Betty Grimwood Thanksgiving Homestay Program and will keep Burns, population 278, on the map.
