BOISE, ID — Mulligans' Pub and Eatery provided free Thanksgiving dinner for those who may be less fortunate or alone for the holiday, providing a warm home-type feel.
- Mulligans' Pub and Eatery hosted their annual Thanksgiving dinner
- Volunteers have been prepping for the last two to three weeks for the big day
- The crew served over 300 lbs of Turkey
- Anyone is allowed to pick up food
- They serve food until they run out
- The former owner started the tradition before she passed away
- Volunteers say that serving the food brings joy as they are positively impacting others lives
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
It is said that Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate family and friends. But, what if you don't have anywhere to go? I'm your neighborhood reporter Alexander Huddleston. Mulligans' Pub and Eatery have created that home-type feel for the last several years, not only for customers but workers as well.
"Gonna give me free food? Heck yeah," exclaimed one guest.
That's right! Mulligans' Pub and Eatery hosted its annual free Thanksgiving dinner.
Cook Micah Monroe explained, "Anyone who does not have a place to go on Thanksgiving. It’s just our little way of giving back to the community and those around us who don't have any families to go to or don’t have enough money to go eat on Thanksgiving."
One guest said, "What brought me here is I would have to cook by myself."
"It's awful nice people would do something like this, out of their own pocket," said another.
"It’s a great feast, great people," said one member of the band Buckwild.
"You can see the smiles on people's faces when they walk in and they get to get food. A nice hot meal," said Monroe.
However, it is not just the guests who come in for the free food that benefit from this event. I spoke with a few of the volunteers who explained that when times were low they found a safe supportive home in the hole-in-the-wall pub.
Connor Griswold explained, "Everyone here from the bartenders to the cooks, to myself, to the owners, everything, has always been a sense of community and a sense of love."
"I got Connor by my side, and I got all of these cats by my side, it’s nice to have friends that have been through all the similar same things. But we are all here for each other," said Tegan Wisvari.
Kaci Jo Furniss, the former owner of the pub was the mind behind this tradition. sadly she passed away in September 2022.
"Ithink Kaci kind of noticed that a lot of us as patrons and cooks over the years of coming here, probably noticed that we didn’t really have, stray, something like that. We didn’t really have a place to go, and this was kind of home base," explained Griswold.
Connor Griswold explained that the volunteers who put up this event just want to continue the mission of their former manager.
Griswold tearfully said, "And provide that warmth, and that love that maybe a lot of us didn’t have in the past, or have lost that in the past because of losing family members. It’s a really cool opportunity, and again, it’s very humbling, because a lot of us, don’t have that opportunity. So it’s nice to be able to provide that."
After spending a couple of hours at the pub, speaking to customers and volunteers, the message I pulled away was that anyone is welcome. so if you don’t have anywhere to go for the holidays… mulligans will always hold you a seat at their table. reporting in Boise, I'm Alexander Huddleston, Idaho News 6.
