2009-07-02T15:00:00.015-05:00

Superfeast
Thanksgiving SuperFeast
Giant Thanksgiving SuperFeast

Dallas Thanksgiving SuperFeast
SuperFeast Houston

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Thanksgiving SuperFeast History

J David Moeller (L) and George Toomer, Founders

The Giant Thanksgiving SuperFeast began in Dallas, Texas in 1970. It was born as an idea for a community function by Claxon Magazine Publisher/Editor J David Moeller and business partner George R. Toomer, co-publisher and art director; and staff writers Ken Burns and Art "Smedley" Harding along with artist Robert C. Maize.

Please Note: George Toomer passed away Sunday night, July 12, 2009. His contributions to the SuperFeasts, his friends, his art, and this world, are immeasurable and he will be sorely missed. R.I.P. George

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The Dallas Times Herald, since gone out of publication, first announced that "Good" Dave Moeller (as they dubbed him) "needs bread!" and went on to explain he was seeking donations to provide a free Thanksgiving Dinner to anyone who needed a place to dine on the holiday, regardless of their ability to pay for the meal.

Moeller felt there were too many people eating alone on a day so devoted to family and that a community could come together and provide for them as well as those in need.

The idea was to provide a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with "all the trimmings...for free; donated, prepared and served by individuals to anyone who wished to attend, regardless of their ability to pay.

Neither corporate sponsorship nor large monetary donations were sought or solicited after the first year, although some minor expenses always arose and these were covered by the very few donations that did come in, never over a hundred dollars. The concept was to foster a "Family" atmosphere...provided by the "family of mankind".

Corporations were asked to provide soft drinks, some of the cooking, bread, utensils, etc. and they did, graciously; other than that, the entire SuperFeast -turkeys, deserts, vegetables, fresh breads, microwave ovens, carvers, servers, runners, trash patrols- was donated by individuals and families from within the community.

At The first SuperFeast in 1970 approximately 750 people were fed turkey sandwiches, Lay's Potato Chips/Fritos, and Dr Pepper. Although the goal of the traditional dinner wasn't achieved, the gathering was an unqualified success and set the tone of the future SuperFeasts.

Toomer had organized a small army of volunteers to not only lovingly hand-make the sandwiches and individualy wrap the "Dinner"; but he also arranged for the band Seompi to entertain on what was a warm sunny day in Lee Park in Dallas. Toomer -and his team- is credited with the success of the first Thanksgiving SuperFeast.

His efforts and dedication to that first SuperFeast inspired us to do it again the following year.

J David Moeller

Greeting the First Dallas

SuperFeast Crowd

The music was mellow.

An ad for Dallas' 2nd SuperFeast

Artwork By George Toomer

The second year we had a surprise.

One woman anonymously donated 50 frozen turkeys! Thirty Three were cooked in the bread ovens of Phil's Delicatessen and the rest were picked up, cooked and then brought out to the SuperFeast by individuals using their own family recipes and magic touches. From then on, Thanksgivinng SuperFeasts featured the tradional meal with all the trimmings...for just a few thousands of our closest friends.

Another example of the miraculous kindnesses people demonstrated occured in Houston: one woman called offering to bake a pie, asking what flavor would be preferred. Moeller suggested she make her own favorite just like she'd make for her own holiday dinner.

On the morning of the SuperFeast she and her daughter came up to him and asked where he'd like her to put them. Moeller pointed out the desert tables whereupon she turned around behind her, waved her hand, and said, "Ok, here it is! Bring 'em in!"

She and her family had stayed up all night baking all sorts of pies...and had gotten all her neighbors to volunteer their ovens to do it. She brought in well over 50 pies of every flavor you would expect at Thanksgiving.

Over the years thousands of people from all walks of life were fed hot, delicious Thanksgiving dinners.

When asked by volunteers what to do when people asked for more than one serving of something, Moeller always told his volunteers to give it to them, "Wouldn't your Grandmother give you extra if you wanted it? This is just like Thanksgiving at Grandma's house. Everybody eats!"

The SuperFeasts never ran out of food or turned anyone away unfed. As a matter of fact, there was always some set aside to be distributed to the "severely poor" who could not make it to the event. There were never any troubles or incidents and the areas where the SuperFeasts were held were always left clean and tidy.

J David Moeller organizes the virtual

grocery store of food donated to

the Giant Thanksgiving SuperFeast.

In Austin, Moeller was the morning DJ for KOKE-AM/FM. The Monday of Thanksgiving week he decided, on the air at 6:00am, to organize a SuperFeast for Thankgiving Thursday. He had no location, no food, no budget...but he did have a listening audience.

His show ran from 6am to 10am and during those four hours, between music, news and commercial breaks he teased, cajoled, begged and pleaded enough donations of turkeys, pies, beverages, utensils and everything else needed for the meal.

The acquisition of a place to hold the event didn't happen until the Day before T-Day!

It was finally agreed to by the city Parks and Recreation Department -who'd been involved in the search since Monday- to hold the event at the picturesque Zilker Park open air Hillside Theater, near the banks of Town Lake and the Colorado River, an easily accessable location.

The Newspaper Article That Started It All in Dallas:
(Came out just one week before Thanksgiving)

Front Page of the Dallas Morning News
November 26, 1982

SuperFeast Founder J David Moeller

cooks a tasty bird for the event.

"D" Magazine Honored the 1982 Giant Thanksgiving SuperFeast

in its Annual "Best And Worst" Awards Issue.

Everyone gets involved with the 1987 SuperFeast in Houston.
Young people are especially welcome.

In Memory of Carol Collins-Baer.
Carol always brought the bread.
Loaves and Loaves of Bread.
She'd literally fill her car with
hundreds of Loaves and
bring them every year.

R.I.P. Carol...and Thank You!

It, literally, only took eleven days to organize the SuperFeasts. With the generous cooperation of the press, an article announcing the upcoming event would appear two Sundays before Thanksgiving; eleven days. Moeller would begin fielding calls the same morning that were generated by the inclusion of his number in those articles. From around 8am to approximately 6 or 7pm he'd tell callers what was needed and accepting anything and everything they wished to donate from microwaves to eating utensils, paper plates to trash bags, homemade delicacies to canned vegitables, turkeys, and their time.

Some callers would offer a frozen turkey saying, "We're going to be out of town that day. Do you think you can get it cooked?"

Moeller would assure them it would be taken care of and explained he'd find someone who'd prepare the bird (usually a caller who wanted to "do something, but we wanted to know what you needed") and would then put them in touch with each other to work out the logistics. It was not uncommon for the volunteer chefs to add a turkey of their own.

Moeller kept a meticulous list of donors and their donations and would carefully check off every thing by Thanksgiving Eve. All the birds cooked? Check. All the deliveries staggered and checked? Check? Etc.

Thanksgiving Morning would find a small army of volunteers assembled to begin setting everything up and starting the SuperFeast.

Although he was the only person manning the phone, Moeller's volunteers numbered in the hundreds. Some would make arrangements for pick-up/deliveries of donations, others would co-ordinate the servers' arrivals, some would even transport plates of food to folks who could not make it to the event.

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Houston Mayor, Kathy Whitmire, Presents SuperFeast Founder J David Moeller with a Proclamation announcing Thanksgiving Day as "Houston Family Togetherness Day"

Dallas and Houston "Family Togetherness Day" Proclamations.

Please click on the article for easier reading...

then click on image again in new window.

Pictures by Holly S. Dick of the 1986 Houston Thankgiving SuperFeast

The History of the Giant Thanksgiving SuperFeasts of Texas