Volunteer Fred Black offers diners a selection of deserts at the Community Dinner.
Commons Photos by Justin Smith

By Justin Smith
Staff Writer

Carrboro resident Sue Kent sits by herself at an octagonal table in the McDougle Middle School Cafetorium a half-hour before the Community Dinner is set to begin.

She was dropped off by EZ Rider, a free transportation service for people with disabilities.

Kent reads her thick Sunday newspaper while waiting for strangers to fill the seven empty seats around the table.

“I meet people on the bus, and I meet people walking, and I meet people at church, but other people aren’t on the busses that I’m on, and other people don’t go to my church, and other people don’t walk where I walk,” Kent said. “That’s why with something like this, you get people from all different walks of life and all different areas of town.”

Kent’s eagerness to meet new people mirrors the dinner’s slogan: “Sit down with a stranger, leave with a friend.”

The Community Dinner was started 10 years ago as a way to bring together local people from different economic, racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds said Jackie Helvey, a member of the dinner committee.

The dinner is described as a community building event, not a fundraiser. Tickets are sold in advance and given away for free to residents who cannot afford them.

Nearly 600 people were expected to attend the dinner this year.

As the 1 p.m. start time approaches, more than 50 volunteers, many from various community, civic and religious organizations, complete last minute tasks.

Portia Boone, a Duke University freshman, places cups of rice pudding on the tables.

“It’s amazing that food is a way to bring everyone together,” Boone said.

As hungry ticket holders enter the room, they are greeted by volunteers with host buttons pinned on their shirts.

Carrboro resident Sue Kent said she enjoyed meeting new people at the Community Dinner.

The hosts direct the guests to a serving line where they choose from a wide variety of entrées provided by Mama Dip’s Country Cooking Restaurant, Bon’s Home Cookin’, The Carolina Inn, Bandido’s Mexican Café and Tandoor Indian Restaurant.

After filling their plates, diners are free to sit wherever there is an open seat.

“We do encourage people to sit with someone they don’t know,” Helvey said.

Conversations among new acquaintances are put on hold as an eclectic mix of entertainment takes the stage.

The lineup, meant to reflect the diversity of the community, includes bagpiper Bryn Smith, youth jump rope team SkipSations! and a black string band called The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

In between performances, Sue Kent turns to the people who filled those empty seats around her table.

To her left is local jazz musician Chris Reynolds, who decided to come to the dinner after seeing tickets for sale at Mama Dip’s.

To Kent’s right is Marge Richter, who had read about the Community Dinner in the newspaper for several years and finally decided to come.

In between bites, the two elderly women turn to each other and talk about a variety of topics including a new senior center on Eubanks Road.

When the EZ Rider comes to pick up Kent from the dinner, she will leave full from the meal and thankful for conversations she had with people she otherwise would not have met.

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