Dining Communities Devour Loneliness

Around the country, new dining communities are shooting up. The aim is, among other things, to bring to life the loneliness experienced by more than 210,000 Danes. Vestermarkskirken in Grindsted is one of the places that invites you to eat together.

The community around a meal can be something very special, many believe. That's why, in these years, several new dining communities are springing up around the country, where people who otherwise have little to do with each other eat together. In some places you do it to link a local community closer together. Elsewhere, it is doing so to combat some of the loneliness experienced by more than 210,000 Danes.
This applies, for example, to Vestermarkskirken in Grindsted. Here you have twice been part of the People's Movement Against Loneliness campaign Denmark Eats Together, and this has led to the fact that the town is now invited to a communal meal in the church on one Monday a month.
- The first time we were about 80 people, but after we handed out invitations to the residents of the old people's homes opposite the church, the word has spread in the city, and the last few times we have had 170 people eating together, says volunteer coordinator at Vestermarkskirken, Gitte Johansen.

The kitchen as a free space
There are 30 volunteers involved in the communal dining in Vestermarkskirken; half are from the church and half are from the town.
- A few of those who enjoy washing dishes and helping out in the kitchen are developmentally disabled. Others have mental health challenges and use their involvement here as a way to get started with life again and out among others. In this way, the kitchen has become a free space where people feel that they can participate, even if they have some challenges to contend with, explains Gitte Johansen.

Good way to get relationships
After dinner itself, which usually consists of traditional Danish food, Vestermarkskirken serves coffee and cookies, and people like to linger a bit — though rarely longer than an hour and a half. In turn, more of them come just a few days later.
- When we built a new church with a café ten years ago, part of our dream was that the café would be open during the daytime. So far we only have it on Wednesdays, when social is paramount with bread rolls, coffee, games and talking. Several of those who come to the communal dining are also starting to come on Wednesdays, so it is just as quiet as possible, says Gitte Johansen and states:
- Sitting and eating together is a good way to create relationships and friendship between people.
In addition to Vestermarkskirken in Grindsted, there are several other free churches which offer some form of communal dining. The above video is, for example, from a communal meal in the City Church in Odense. Read also about community dining under the auspices of the Family Network and the Blue Cross here.

Photo: Vestermarkskirken