A sit-down dinner is a classic way of bonding with others, but usually a sit-down dinner is shared by people who already know each other. A group in Nelsonville, however, has created a way to sit down and bond people who don’t know each other at all.
In January 2018, Nelsonville resident Dottie Fromal had the idea of beginning a dinner for people to sit down and bond with people they didn’t know from the area. People immediately took to the idea, and soon the Nelsonville Thursday Night Community Dinners were born.
One of the co-creators of the event, Lori Crook, noticed early that the product of the dinners slightly deviated from the original idea. Initially, Fromal wanted young teens to sit down and form relationships with adults in the community so people from all different walks of life could have conversation. However, once the idea took off, the pioneers of the dinners noticed that it became a family event.
“What makes the dinner different from a normal community dinner is that it’s not a charity event,” Crook said. “The dinners are an old-fashioned idea of people coming together and bonding over sharing a meal.”
The women behind the operation started holding the dinners in January, and have held a dinner on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. every week since. Nothing deters the women from having the dinner unless except weather advisories.
The dinner started out in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church of Nelsonville, and in the summer, they were held in the Nelson Commons Park. They have now transitioned to the Athens County Democratic Party’s Nelsonville headquarters.
Crook knew the dinners would be really important for Nelsonville, but never envisioned it would become as large as it is now. Typically, the dinner crew serves between 50 and 100 people every week, which requires a lot of resources. The dinners started as only four women pulling money out of their own pockets to fund the dinners, and gradually the people of Nelsonville started donating money in support.
“It was one thing when we were feeding only 20 people,” Crook said. “Whatever money we could pull together we would use to make whatever we could. It was a bit of a struggle at first, but Dottie was the one who kept it going, and now all the families who participate in the dinners also pitch in with donations and help.”
The dinners have not reached a nonprofit status, so it’s still mostly just donations and out of pocket pay from the creators of the event that fund it every week. Crook believes the best part is that every Thursday they’ll have someone who isn’t in the dinner crew come to help out, whether it be set up or clean up.
Nelsonville resident Andrea Reany moved to Nelsonville from Athens in August and immediately got involved with the community dinners. She met Crook, Fromal and a few other people who were instrumental in the creation of the dinners and was inspired to do her part. She attends the dinners, always stays to clean up and, occasionally, will serve food.
“I always encourage people to come to the dinner because it’s a great way to get to know each other and have a good time,” Reany said. “And of course Dottie and Lori are such amazing leaders and are the kind of people that have a gift for bringing other people together and that’s a really important role in the community.”
The dinners are now beginning to expand into more than just food. They’ve added some music and karaoke for the people who want to sing and make the dinners more exciting.
Crook and Reany recognize that the dinners are their way of giving back to Nelsonville, but they can’t deny that there is a huge amount of personal joy and takeaway that comes from the event every week.
“By far my favorite part about these dinners is the feeling of the community that we have here,” Crook said. “It’s many people who live in the same town but didn’t know each other before, and now we all feel like one big family.”
Reany also said the dinners are a good way to bring different people together.
“These dinners are a really powerful way to bring together different people in our community who come from a wide variety of backgrounds,” Reany said. “We often like to stay in our own bubble, but I know the connections people make with each other make our community stronger.”
Though Crook and Reany hope the families enjoy the dinners for the lovely food and bonding aspects, they each have their own personal hopes for what people take away from the weekly event.
“I hope people come to the dinner and feel like they belong,” Reany said. “The people in Nelsonville want to get connected and get to know each other, and I want people to feel like a family.”
