Community Plate
Serving community one food story at a time.
More than ever, we all need connection and community.
In the wake of a global pandemic, when loneliness is an epidemic, when our country feels more divided than united, when we spend more time on screens than in face-to-face conversations… our social connections are in need of repair.
Community Plate is a Maine-based nonprofit dedicated to facilitating connection and creating community through shared meals and stories. We bring people together in non-partisan, cross-cultural, intergenerational spaces at Story Sharing Potluck Suppers, our statewide series of free community events. Together, we reimagine the community potluck using storytelling as a source of connection and entertainment.
It’s a simple, powerful formula, and it’s not something new—human beings have always gathered around food and stories. This combination brings us closer to one another, and reminds us of our shared humanity. At the same time, it gives us an opportunity to express our individualities, our personal tastes, and our family stories. And the food is delicious!
Reimagining the potluck, revitalizing relationships, and reenergizing our communities
This is what we do. At Story Sharing Potluck Suppers, which take place in communities across the state from Lewiston to Lubec, participants bring a dish, a story, an open mind, and an open heart. Each meal is organized around a theme, and a set of story prompts that support and create conversation. The event is set with a focus on inclusion, attention, and generosity. The table is set for an occasion, with vintage china, cotton cloths, and flowers. The supper concludes with practiced storytellers, organized ahead of time, entertaining the gathered community with stories that are performed or read. After the supper, Community Plate collects and compiles all the recipes and stories that people brought into a small community cookbook, which is distributed to everyone who attended the supper, to commemorate the connections made and community created.
Let’s revive the community potluck! Visit our Event Schedule and join us at an upcoming Story Sharing Potluck Supper!
What people are saying about Story Sharing Suppers:
“I found an unlikely shared connection with someone sitting across from me and it was a beautiful moment.”
"It was wonderful watching an elderly friend light up telling stories that I had heard before, but that she was telling to new folks hearing them for the first time."
"Attending the dinner made me feel more connected to my community, and more generally optimistic. Plus, the food was delicious."
“I spoke in depth with someone I thought I knew fairly well; but his willingness to share more about his life and how he felt seemed to be enhances by the event. ‘Sharing food makes me feel part of something,’ he said. This statement stuck with me because I already saw him as part of something… he clearly needed this.”
“I learned different ways that I was connected to the people that I sat next to even though they lived in a different town and had very different lives. By the time I left, they were no longer strangers. It was a reminder of how we are all connected in unexpected ways.”
"We have felt sad and disappointed so many times in the last several years it has been difficult to be hopeful.This event has been one of those things that we can cherish and hold onto. The joyful memories of shared stories and interconnectedness are a balm to it all.”
"This is the best community-building event I have attended… Can we do this every week? I would do this every single week."