Sea Cliff’s Love Your Neighbor Project hosted its second annual community potluck and music chairs event, seating 176 people in the village’s Roslyn Park. Residents from the village and surrounding communities as well as elected officials joined the organization and DJ Sean Valentine for an evening of meeting neighbors and trying new food.
The Longest Table event began after longtime resident Lisa Harir approached the nonprofit with the idea last year. Harir, who has a background in catering, said she has always enjoyed connecting people and used to host potlucks in college.
After seeing Longest Table events in New York City, Harir brought the idea to Jaime Teich, founder of Love Your Neighbor Project.
“We loved the concept of building one continuous table within our community,” Teich said, “where everyone is sitting together.”
Attendees, those 21 and older, were asked to bring a dish that serves eight people. Teich described the musical chairs activity as “an extra layer of fun.”
Elite/PBS Tents and Events provided tables, chairs, linens and glasses, which Teich said allowed Love Your Neighbor Project to only charge $25 per person. Branch Real Estate Group and Outside Legal Counsel were the event’s music and game sponsors. Each table was sponsored by an individual, family or business in the community.
Teich said that Love Your Neighbor Project is planning to meet with North Shore School District administration about creating clubs at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The clubs would focus on finding connection despite differences, a major element of the nonprofit’s mission.
“What better way to say every student deserves a seat at the table,” Teich said, “than to have proceeds from this event benefit that?”
According to Teich, roughly $12,000 were raised. National Sit With a Stranger Day was on Sept. 16, and the Longest Table was held on Sept. 19. Teich explained that the event is intentionally scheduled close to National Sit With a Stranger Day and that attendees are seated in pairs with an opportunity to sit with someone they might not know. She added the goal is to “turn strangers into neighbors.”
Harir noted that in a small community like Sea Cliff, it might seem like most people know each other, but there are still opportunities to meet new people.
“There are many people that aren’t out and about so much,” she said. “Maybe they don’t go to the bars. Maybe they work nine to five or nine to eight, and they’re just not around. So, I noticed that it was a lot of those people that were responding to this.”
Teich said that the Longest Table creates an environment for people to connect, in a more intimate atmosphere than other Love Your Neighbor Project events. She added that everything the nonprofit does aims to promote connection.
It’s all about finding our way towards one another and choosing one another,” Teich said, “even if you and I do not see eye to eye politically or religiously or have different backgrounds.”
Harir echoed the idea of meeting and connecting with new people in a unique way.
“Maybe you meet people in the gym because that’s your shared interest, or maybe you meet people in an art place because that’s your shared interest,” she said. “But now you’re meeting people in a completely different way.”
