The Plains Community League started with soup. During the Depression, a group of women in the village noticed that some children at the local school had nothing to eat at lunch. They went to area farmers and merchants for vegetables and meat and made soup for the students. That school building now houses a harpsichord workshop.
The women later called themselves The Plains Community League. They wrote a constitution and bylaws, incorporated, and adopted a mission statement of four words, "Neighbors Helping Neighbors." Nearly a century later, the Thanksgiving groceries, Santa's wagon and the Christmas Eve candles that make up the village's holiday season all come from that same organization. It still works on the same principle, and it works out of one building.
From a Soup Pot to a Permanent Address
The League's work has grown, but it has kept its shape. According to the League's 2025 annual report, the soup lunches turned into an after-school tutoring program. Volunteers Mr. and Mrs. Gant started it. A paid executive director now runs it, and volunteer tutors still staff it. The League still provides groceries for a Thanksgiving meal to anyone in town who needs them. It also makes sure every child in its tutoring and summer camp programs is fed. Feeding children was the first thing the League did, and it is still a standing commitment.
For decades the League had no building. Monthly meetings were held in members' homes and later in community facilities. In 2006 the League took ownership of the John Page Turner Community House from Grace Episcopal Church, which gave it a permanent home on Main Street in the center of town. The Fauquier Times gives the address as 6473 Main Street.
The house and grounds now hold nearly all of the League's programs: tutoring, summer camp, and social events open to the whole community. The League also shares space with other nonprofits, including the Windy Hill Foundation. Tutoring is free and meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. This school year's sessions began September 29. The League started a free summer camp in 2023 and planned two sessions for 2026 because so many families applied.
The holidays run through the same house, the same volunteers and the same supply lines the League relies on every Tuesday afternoon.
Three Dates on One Calendar
The League's season update, posted in September, sets out the rest of 2026.
- Sunday, November 22. Thanksgiving dinner groceries go out to families in need, either picked up or delivered. Volunteers pack in the days before and help on pickup day. The League says it typically packs and delivers as many as 50 meals to neighbors in The Plains.
- Saturday, December 19. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive at the John Page Turner House by horse-drawn wagon. Children can meet Santa, receive gifts, make crafts, have treats and ride in the wagon.
- Christmas Eve. Volunteers line the main streets of The Plains with luminaries, which stay lit through the evening after dark.
Each date asks something different of the village. Thanksgiving is the League's oldest kind of work, food from neighbors for neighbors. December 19 is a party at the house. Christmas Eve moves out of the house altogether and onto the streets, and anyone driving through the village that night sees it.
The fall calendar has already shown how much these events depend on the house. On October 3, rain moved A Day in The Plains indoors to the John Page Turner House, its porch and canopies. In its recap, the League thanked village businesses that helped, including Baileywycke Antiques, The Plains Market, Bistro @ The Porch, and Zig Zag Crafts and Gallery. The event had a building to move into because the League owns one.
What a Thanksgiving Dinner Costs, and Who Covers It
Every League program is free. The annual report says the yearly budget is "significant." Contributions pay to maintain the John Page Turner Community House, cover its utilities, and fund the salary of Executive Director Erica Young.
The report puts prices on what gifts buy:
- $10 buys stationery supplies for the tutoring program.
- $50 covers a complete Thanksgiving dinner for five, "from turkey to pie."
- $500 buys a laptop, or eight weeks of swim passes for a dozen campers.
Using the League's own numbers, if every one of the roughly 50 meals it delivers were a $50 dinner for five, November 22 would come to about $2,500 in groceries. That is enough to feed around 250 people. The figure is an estimate built from the League's per-meal price, not a budget the League has published.
Volunteers turn those groceries into meals. More than 70 of them support the League's programs, the report says, and their jobs include tutoring, gardening, hanging flags, dressing up as Santa and Mrs. Claus, and packing meals. The Santa in the wagon on December 19 is part of the same volunteer roster as the tutors.
The village's restaurants and shops are part of it too. The annual report credits local businesses that gave food, supplies and services so the 2025 summer camp could run with no fees to families. El Agave, Girasole and Anthony's Pizza in Marshall supplied camp lunches. Bistro at the Front Porch installed soap and paper towel dispensers. Lisa Vella of Baileywyck Antiques is on the donor list, and Oak Springs Garden Foundation taught botanical classes.
The report also gave two restaurateurs space to explain why they help. El Agave has served Mexican food in The Plains since 2011, and Juan Villasenor told the League:
"We are a local restaurant and like to help the nearby schools and organizations."
Girasole, a fine-dining restaurant serving regional Italian food, was beginning its 22nd year in The Plains when the report was written. Asked why it sends lunches to the campers, Lou Patierno answered, "Because it's the right thing to do."
The founders worked the same way. They asked the farmers and merchants nearby for food and cooked it for the children down the street. Today the businesses are restaurants and antique shops, and the soup has become camp lunches and Thanksgiving groceries.
Before the Groceries Go Out
The first date on the calendar is ten days after this post goes live. The League's season update asks for volunteers in the days before November 22 and on pickup day itself. The annual report lists the ways to reach the League: by phone at 540-253-2119, by email at [email protected], or by mail to P.O. Box 432, The Plains, VA 20198. Card and PayPal donations are accepted online. For anyone thinking of tutoring after the holidays, the tutoring page asks prospective tutors to contact Erica at 540-878-9362 or the same League email.
Grace Episcopal Church, which owned the community house until 2006, has two events of its own this coming weekend. Grace Episcopal Church lists The Family Table, which it calls a new Saturday gathering, for Saturday, November 14 at 5 p.m. The Grace Church Concert Series brings Charm City Junction to the church on Sunday, November 15, also at 5 p.m.
After that, the season belongs to the League. Groceries go out on November 22, the wagon comes to the house on Main Street on December 19, and volunteers light the luminaries on Christmas Eve.
Hunt Country holds on to its character through organizations like The Plains Community League as much as through its open land. For families thinking about a place in or around The Plains, or about the future of a property they already love here, I'm glad to talk through the village you'd be joining or leaving. Bretton Molenaar works with buyers and sellers who care about that continuity. Let's Connect.
