It is said that a quick way to find out what the community is talking about is a glance at the editorial page. We would say that an even better way to find out what is going on is go to a community supper.
This week, for the adventurous, or pathologically sociable, we highlight a veritable bounty of places to turn to a communal feast, all of them fundraisers for one cause or another.
To begin with, on Fri., Feb. 11 there is fundraiser for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake at St. Patrick’s Church in Newcastle.
On Sat., Feb. 12, there is a fish chowder supper at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wiscasset, a fundraiser for the Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine. Also on Feb. 12, there is the fifth annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser in Damariscotta for the Coastal Kids Pre-School.
On Sun., Feb. 13 the Second Congregational Church Fellowship Hall, Newcastle, UCC will hold its Second Sunday Potluck Supper and at the same time, at the V.F.W. Hall on Mill Street in Waldoboro, there is a Bingo benefit, with food on the side, for a Waldoboro man stricken with cancer.
Benefit suppers are staples of communities such as ours. Hardly a week goes by without one or two, and frequently more. There are so many of them so often that even those among us with the biggest hearts and the hardiest appetites have to pick and choose where they take their meals.
We take our hats off to all those who put these dinners together, whether they organize or cook or clean or set up or break down, or often as not, a little of all of the above. Whether they raise a penny or a pound, as they say, in this case we argue the effort is more than half the battle. This isn’t football where some stern coach dismisses a hard fought loss with some contemptuous snort about the worthlessness of moral victories.
This is life, happening in real time. Life is all about moral victories.
We urge you to pick one of these dinners and get out and about. You’ll meet some people; people who either are or will become friends, and you will support a good local cause.
Just by going you’ll be doing a good deed and you’ll get to enjoy some fine company and good old fashioned home cooking for your trouble. What could be better?
