Looking for a fun way to help families in your community have healthier, more meaningful meals? Organizing a Community Dinner can help you do just that! As part of this guide, you’ll find tips and materials for both hosting and facilitating a successful event. We get it. Hosting a Community Dinner can feel daunting at the outset. Our guide and accompanying resources are designed to provide you with answers to any questions you may have throughout the process (and if you come up with a question that we don’t cover—let us know!).

What is a Community Dinner?

A TFDP Community Dinner is an event that brings together different families in the same community, neighborhood, school, faith-based organization or any other setting. The families may already know each other, or they may be meeting for the first time. Families come in all shapes and sizes and all are welcome.

Who can host a Community Dinner?

Anyone can host an event, including schools, community centers, parenting groups and faith-based organizations. If you’ve got a group of families, you can have dinner together!

Why should we host a Community Dinner?

What if there was one change you could make to improve your kids’ vocabulary, resilience and self-esteem, while decreasing their likelihood of eating disorders, teen pregnancy and substance abuse? What if just one change could positively impact their minds, bodies and spirits? Regular family dinners have been shown to significantly impact all of the above. Hosting a Community Dinner is a great way to bring people together for food, fun and conversation and jumpstart new family dinner habits. Community Dinners help families learn to have healthier, more meaningful meals using a fun and structured model that’s easy to follow. After the event, families go home with lots of new tips and tricks they can use at their own dinner tables to improve their well-being, one dinner at a time.

Is hosting a Community Dinner difficult?

Hosting any kind of group event requires planning and organization, but our time-tested Community Dinner model is simple and effective — and it can be customized to your unique needs. Everything you need to plan a successful event is included within the following pages!