Old Friends and New Neighbors

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For the inaugural City Suppers event, I made a Fillipino rice noodle dish, pancit. I spent the afternoon chopping away...garlic, green beans, cabbage, carrots.  When dinner was served, I spoke about my native country and a guest brought up the Bataan Death March.  Not everyone at the table was familiar with the details of April 9, 1942. After the United States surrendered the Bataan Peninsula to the Japanese, 76,000  Americans and Filipinos were forced to march 65 miles to prisoner camps enduring intense heat and cruel treatment. Between 5,000 and 11,000 never died along the way.  It was a fitting discussion as we honor our veterans this Tuesday.  I think we are going to start a tradition of Sunday City Suppers.  Thank you for encouraging us and for the ALL-IN deck. I attached a photo of the pancit.

Christi Garcia

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City Suppers... what does that mean? It means looking beyond our normal routine and comforts of Sunday night television to open up our home to our friends and neighbors.  That's what we did and it was great! We got to visit with some old friends, that used to live in Illinois. We had some neighbors that we know from church, my boss came and our new neighbors who showed up with records for us to listen to while we hung out. This is what community looks like and we are proud to be part of it!

Josh Plemon

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This past Sunday we hosted a meal at our home - a meal bringing together new and old neighbors for the first time.  As I anticipated the evening, I felt a bit nervous, hoping and praying that everyone who crossed our threshold would feel welcomed and comfortable.  As people arrived, chatter and laughter filled the home.  Everyone brought something to contribute from bread to salad to dessert and drinks.  I served up a simple pasta with meat sauce which combined with everyone's additions created a feast.  After the meal was finished, people lingered at the table sharing stories.  As we had a couple of people in attendance who have lived in our neighborhood for seventy-five years, their stories were particularly fascinating and captivating.  As the door closed after our final guest left that evening, the warmth and camaraderie still lingering in the space, I was thankful and hopeful and looking forward to reconvening again.

Ann Pumphrey