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No Barriers Community Dinners

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No Barriers Community Dinner

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Future No Barriers Dinners

February 24th
March 31st
April 28th
May 26th

BSM "No Barriers" Dinners: Statement of Purpose

The Broad Street Ministry's "No Barriers" Dinners are a means to employ the sharing of meals as a catalyst for community building among the diverse residents of BSM's immediate neighborhood and the city at large. Located on the Avenue of the Arts, within five blocks of Center Citys most expensive concert hall, its cheapest hotel, its most publicized homeless shelter, and its most recognized college of art, BSM is at the intersection Philadelphia's most divergent populations. For all of this diversity, there are few places where members of these different populations gather 'at table' for conversation, for sharing of experiences and to explore commonalities and distinctiveness. The challenge before the No Barriers Community Dinners is to gather together members of these groups in a single space to create a comfort level, or at least a didactic discomfort, among diners by offering a home-cooked meal in a familial environment.

Why Should A Faith Community Do This?

We believe it was the purpose of Jesus to introduce a new society, an alternative way of being in the world. Central to the new society is community, and central to community as Jesus taught and lived it is bringing together individuals whose circumstances would normally keep them apart. Community in the new society is a gathering of people who are different and where 'no strings attached' hospitality is the norm. This is the spirit we seek in our community dinners: hospitality around a common meal where the barriers are broken as we share food, drink and conversation.

Mission

To bring together a representative community from Philadelphia to find common ground in the sharing of food and conversation.

Markers of Success

Inclusion: The community dinners will attract and welcome a broad range of individuals.

Investment: The community dinners will promote a feeling of commitment on the part of the participants. Everyone should be invited to do more than eat.

Accessibility: BSM along with its community partners (who include Aramark, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market and LeBus) will be proactive in extending invitations as well as communicating the rationale behind these gatherings. The men and women who show up for a meal should, by their second dinner, know the difference between these gatherings and "church suppers" at any other institution.

Format

The dinners will be held from 6pm to 7:30pm @ Broad Street Ministry (315 South Broad Street—b/t Spruce and Pine—across from the Kimmel Center and UArts). We host these dinners on a monthly basis.

If you would like to help out with these dinners or know more about them, please contact Kirsten King, Community Impact Coordinator, 215.735.4847 or at kirsten@broadstreetministry.org

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