Fifteen years after launching the Downtown Welcome Table, Haywood Street Congregation is reintroducing its free weekly community lunch program with a new campaign, We Saved You a Seat.
“This campaign aims to counteract the growing issue of social isolation, especially among the marginalized, by fostering community through shared meals,” says Melanee Rizk, Haywood Street Congregation’s lead storyteller. “It underscores the belief that communal dining — where individuals are seated together, sharing a thoughtfully prepared meal — can bridge divides and affirms each person’s dignity and worth.”
Since 2010, the Welcome Table has invited the housed and unhoused, food-secure and food-insecure, to a hot lunch at the nonprofit’s downtown campus every Wednesday, and many attendees are regulars. With We Saved You a Seat, the Welcome Table hopes to use media partnerships and social media messages to increase awareness about the program…