Jim*, a community non-profit leader, started off his time in the kitchen with hesitancy and skepticism. For a special meeting of Breaking Bread at the Gaithersburg Presbyterian Church a group of 16 individuals in the Gaithersburg area came together to cook, eat, and converse about ways they can personally address hunger in their community. On the menu - Vegan Gumbo - a hearty bean, green pepper, mushroom, and okra stew flavored with Cajun spices and hearty miso paste. To start off the conversations, everyone had to pair up and start chopping. Jim paired with *David, a local cook and

recipient of Manna services. Both discussed the places they were born, what their favorite food memory was, and what they used to eat when they were children. David bolstered up Jim's confidence in the kitchen by complimenting his knife skills, and soon both were trading off the vegetable preparation responsibility.  After the stew was set to simmer and was served to all the members, Jim, David, and the other members of the group gathered to read scenarios of local people who use the services of Nourish Now, Gaithersburg HELP, and Manna Food Center (the co-organizers of this event). The group dove deeper into why food insecurity exists in our community by pin pointing several factors that make our community vulnerable; our neighborhood, economic status and stability, and education and health care access. These social determinants of health  wove through every situation, and by changing them we can change the course of food insecurity for ourselves and our neighbors. Jim committed to supporting more efforts surrounding accessible community gardens, and David decided to start talking to more members in his community. A couple other members committed to either researching, supporting, or establishing other Gaithersburg projects to work at the social determinants for our neighbors in need, and bringing back this knowledge to their non-profits, organizations, churches, and homes.

When we make space to talk about these deeper topics, we often feel as though the conversation is unfinished. Many community members left  lunch feeling like we could have continued to talk, propose solutions, and make commitments for hours. Borrowing words from a fellow lunch-goer and Director of Gaithersburg HELP, Margo Goldman,

  "I was surprised by how much I benefited from the discourse and fellowship. We all got to talk to people who we would not necessarily meet and eat with, and we are the richer for that."

There are many ways to help our community, and much that we can learn from one another. Each one of us has experiences that we can pull from to help another person. Continuing the Conversation happens on the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 4pm at Manna's warehouse, 9311 Gaither Rd in Gaithersburg and we always have light snacks and refreshments.