Romans gather for Tables Around Rome
The community meals will be set up in neighborhoods around the county.
“The point is to bring people around tables and to help people meet their neighbors and open in dialogue,” Callette Hollingsworth said. Hollingsworth, of the Church at Rome, said what started as an idea for the church has now grown into an event that will hopefully bring neighbors together to share a meal.
Throughout the summer, the Church at Rome will put out tables and chairs every Wednesday at 6 p.m. in neighborhoods around the Floyd County area for anyone who wants to come and eat with fellow community members.
The first Tables Around Rome started in Summerville Park on Oakwood Street on Wednesday.
Hollingsworth said Rome is still very much segregated in some ways, and she hopes this event will help bring together people who may not talk to each other in day-to-day life.
“We’re just trying to meet people and get people to meet each other,” Kristen Haynes said, “and we would love for other people in our community to start spontaneously doing the tables just because they hear about it.”
Hollingsworth and Haynes explained Tables Around Rome is not exclusively a Church at Rome event, and any churches or other organizations who feel led to join in are welcome. They said the Church at Rome has done a community activity every Wednesday night for the past two years instead of a traditional Wednesday night service. Last year, church members went to the fountain on the Town Green and handed out hot dogs and chips to people there.
The Church at Rome plans to host five more Tables Around Rome, with the next one being in Coosa at Polaris Terrace. To view the schedule of Tables Around Rome, visit the Church at Rome’s Facebook page.