BreadBreakers Dinner - Meaningful Dialogue With Those "On The Other Side"

Have you lost relationships over politics? Dreading the upcoming election? Miss being able to have a simple, human-to-human conversation with people you disagree with?

Participate in this BreadBreakers dinner and be part of the solution.

The premise of BreadBreakers is that many people are willing to have a real conversation with someone who thinks differently from them, but in today’s heavily charged atmosphere, those opportunities are hard to come by. By creating a space where, for two hours, eight-or-so people around a table agree not to debate but to instead ask questions, listen, learn about each others’ lives and experiences, and seek to understand one another, we give participants that rare opportunity to have a thoughtful conversation and hear some ideas they haven’t considered before.

Here’s how it works: On October 12th, we'll gather together and, in dinner groups of eight people and a facilitator, gather around tables at a restaurant or other common space in the Richmond area (location TBD depending on attendance). For about two hours, we’ll tell our stories and try to understand each other, guided as needed by facilitator-posed questions. We won’t try to convince—just to empathize and learn.

Participants will be responsible for the cost of their dinners.

Even if you can't make it but would like to contribute, we do accept donations. Any contributions will go toward reserving a venue, travel for Michael (the organizer), the cost of the MeetUp group, and potentially offsetting the cost of food. Thank you!

In addition to participants, we'll also need people who are willing to serve as facilitators for their dinner groups. This isn't as hard as it sounds - all you'll need to do is make sure everyone is getting a chance to speak, pose questions from our list of conversation prompts, and help remind your group members to follow the simple ground rules we'll explain at the start of the evening. We'll do a 1-2 hour facilitator training on either October 11th or the morning of October 12th. If you're interested in being a facilitator, let me know on this event page or email me at [BreadBreakersInterest@gmail.com](mailto:BreadBreakersInterest@gmail.com)!

Feel free to invite friends and family - let me know at the email above if you have more than five guests (MeetUp's settings only go up to 5).

BreadBreakers is an initiative started by Michael Graham, a native of Richmond, and sponsored by Restoration United Methodist Church in Reston, VA (where Michael currently lives). Though church-sponsored, the program and our dinners are secular in nature. Not all of the BreadBreakers Team are church-goers either. All faiths and all stripes are welcomed.