By Sheree Haubrich, Centro Hispano Reading Public Innovators
This movement began the way living things do — with a spark passed from one person to the next. As the ESL Team listened to English learners across Reading, one message rose again and again: they didn’t just want instruction, they wanted connection. A safe place to practice speaking with real neighbors, without fear or pressure.
As Sis. Cara shared, “Our English learners wanted real opportunities to practice speaking with native English speakers — to build confidence and feel a sense of belonging.”
From those hopes, the first dinner took shape at Calvary UCC in Centre Park, where volunteers prepared a meal, set the tables, and welcomed the community with open hearts. Pastor Steve remembers that night clearly.
“The interactions were so genuine,” he said. “You could see cultural barriers fall away — not just between our members and the English learners, but between learners of different cultures too.”
What began as a small outreach quickly grew. Congregations joined in, volunteers stepped forward, and within two years, the dinners became a citywide collaboration with a full roster of monthly hosts for 2025–2026 — churches, nonprofits, cultural centers, English programs, and community groups all moving together with one purpose.
Inside each dinner, something simple and sacred happens: English learners find the courage to speak, neighbors lean in with patience, and strangers discover unexpected common ground. There is no curriculum and no formal agenda — just shared tables, warm meals, and conversations that build trust in small but meaningful ways.
These gatherings have become public spaces of dignity, where barriers soften, and new forms of community take root. As Pastor Steve shared, “This promotes unity within a diverse community of citizens who have a language barrier with one another.”
Unity is no longer an aspiration — it’s taking shape, table by table. And as this movement grows, it reminds us that community strengthens when we make room for one another and keep taking small, courageous steps together.
