BonnerSprings.com

As people began to fill the Fellowship Hall of the First Christian Church for the annual Senior Center Spaghetti Dinner, thoughts of the event's founder were on most of their minds.

The annual event, which raises money for scholarships to be given to Bonner Springs High School seniors, took place Friday night. Attending the event was Mitchell Jones, the son of Nancy Johnson, who was the former Senior Center director who died in March.

Johnson founded the event 20 years ago, and Jones said from the beginning of the night, memories of his mother kept flooding back.

“It feels good to help out,” Jones said. “We want to keep it going right just like mom would have.”

“Mitch and I wanted to come out and give back,” added Jones’ wife, Nicolle. “It’s a way to keep her spirit alive.”

While Jones remembers attending the event with his mother as a child, this year was the first year he volunteered. In doing so, Jones said he now plans to be back every year and is hoping to help the event grow.

“It’s important because it was important to my mom,” Jones said.

Throughout the evening, Jones said guests of the dinner were coming up to him and Nicolle and sharing stories about Nancy.

“It just shows how much she meant to the community,” Nicolle said.

Friday’s dinner managed to raise $1,423.16, which will be put in the Senior Center/Nancy Jones Johnson Scholarship Fund. After Johnson’s death, the Senior Center renamed its scholarship fund the Senior Center/Nancy Jones Johnson Scholarship Fund, with all proceeds from the spaghetti dinner going into that fund.

Tina Ashford, director of Senior Center, said she couldn’t be happier with the turnout of the event. She said for being her first year running the show, the dinner came together smoothly. Ashford said she attributed much of that to the extensive notes Nancy took each year about preparation for the event.

“We’ve been really excited about our turnout we had,” she said. “The community came out and supported us and we’re thrilled about that.”

This was the 20th anniversary of the all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner. In that time, the center has given about $13,000 to 27 Bonner Springs High School students.

Ashford said the senior center board has not decided yet how many scholarships will be given out and what the scholarship amounts will be this year. Since Nancy’s death, Ashford said the scholarship fund has received more donations then usual, including a donation from the Marble Days committee.

Senior Center board member Barbara Johnson said the Senior Center was happy to find a way to give back to the youth of Bonner Springs. She said the members of the center were young once too and understood what it felt like to not have a lot of money. Because of that, she said, the Senior Center has continued to try to invest in their scholarship recipients’ future.

“We look at the youth and say that's the future,” she said.

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