SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint community is invited to pull up a chair and share a meal, a story and a little bit of connection at the upcoming Longest Table event, taking place next weekend.

The event, held as part of America250 celebrations, will be held Sunday, Sept. 13, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall.

The Longest Table is an Innovia Foundation community event designed to bring people together around one long table and create opportunities for meaningful connection across the community. In Sandpoint, IdaHope Families is bringing this vision to life with an evening centered on food, conversation, and community.

Guests are invited to bring a dish that is special to them to share. Whether it is a family recipe, a favorite comfort food, something connected to your heritage, or simply a dish you love, the goal is to fill the table with food and stories from all across our community. 

“We want everyone to feel welcome at the table,” said IdaHope Families. “The Longest Table is about creating a space where people from all different backgrounds and walks of life can come together, share a meal, and build community, one conversation at a time.”

IdaHope Families is a nonprofit Christian ministry serving families in crisis in Bonner County by empowering local churches and volunteers to provide compassionate support, practical resources, and meaningful relationships.

“Gathered at the Table, Rooted in Community” is more than just a potluck. It is an opportunity to meet someone new, reconnect with neighbors, hear different perspectives, and discover the many people and experiences that make Sandpoint such a special place to call home.

"Longest Table gatherings transform public spaces into welcoming places of connection, where strangers become neighbors and neighbors become friends," Innovia Foundation officials in a press release. "By coming together around the table, participants are invited into conversation that fosters understanding, reduces isolation, and strengthens trust across communities."

Communities used the microgrants — which were up to $2,500 — to pay for organizational costs, promotional materials, youth activities and more. The initiative offers a chance to reflect where America is today, both as a country and a region, and to imagine the hopes and possibilities we hold for the future. 

"Four years and tens of thousands of people later, we've learned something," organizers said in a video on the initiative's YouTube channel. "This simple, joyful idea — one as old as time — isn't just nice, it's necessary, it's foundational because you can't solve problems without trust."

The meals build that trust on a hyper-local level in communities and in neighborhoods.

"Trust is that quiet force that everything else depends on," officials said in the video. "Without it, nothing works."

As the nation marks 250 years, Innovia Foundation officials said The Longest Table initiative offers an opportunity to reflect on where we are today — both as a country and a region — and to imagine the hopes and possibilities we hold for the future. 

The Longest Table is part of Innovia Foundation’s effort to bring communities together around a shared table, encouraging people to build relationships and strengthen the connections that make communities thrive.

“Innovia is honored to launch this impactful initiative in communities across our region,” Shelly O’Quinn, Innovia Foundation CEO, said. “Bringing neighbors around the same table and sparking conversations is a powerful way to reduce isolation, promote belonging, and strengthen social trust.” 

At the event, magic happens: 89% meet someone new, 83% feel less lonely, 87% feel better about their neighborhood and 81% wanted to get involved in their neighborhood.

"Each table, it's proof," Longest Table officials said in the video. "We have what we need to rebuild trust, community and a sense of share responsibility, and to rediscover connection and joy."

By sitting down together and connection, Longest Table gatherings transform public spaces into welcoming places of connection, where strangers become neighbors and neighbors become friends. By coming together around the table, participants are invited into conversation that fosters understanding, reduces isolation, and strengthens trust across communities. 

"The truth is simple," officials said in the video. "We can face anything, but only if we face it together. Because sometimes that nice idea, that one that seems small or too simple, it's actually the most radical. We can't fix anything alone."

The Longest Table is presented in partnership with STCU. Learn more and apply for a grant at innovia.org/the-longest-table.

There is no expectation to know anyone beforehand, offering a chance to connect with other community members, officials said.

For more information or to sign up, go to bit.ly/3SkuH7u.