32 people of differing faiths showed up for the one year anniversary of the Interfaith Community Dinner Tuesday, at the Lansing Community Center.  The monthly dish-to-pass attracts members of all faiths -- and no organized religions.  It has regularly attracted members of Tompkins County's Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, who come each month to get to know each other and share a meal.

The dinners are informal affairs.  People are welcomed and asked to introduce themselves, after which they did in to a feast of foods from many cultures, all labeled with ingredients so that religious or dietary restrictions are easily managed.  No one goes hungry - bringing a dish is suggested, but not required so that anyone can participate whether they have the means to bring a dish or not.

A traditional Danish and Norwegian cake, this kransekake, like all dishes at the Interfaith Community Dinners, is labeled so that people with religious or dietary restrictions can choose among the many dishes-to-pass accordinglyThe dinners were begun by Lansing United Methodist Church (LUMC) member Karen Veaner in response to local and national hate crimes, including a graffiti incident in Ludlowville Park in March, 2017.  Lansing Parks Department officials were alerted to anti-Semitic graffiti carved into playground equipment in Ludlowville Park.  Graffiti included a Jewish star with a line scratched through it and other defamatory graffiti, as well as an older 'Sons of Anarchy' (white supremacy) symbol.

The first dinner was hosted at LUMC, and attracted around 50 people.  The largest attendance was 70 people at Congregation Tikkun v'Or, the Ithaca Reform Temple in the Village of Lansing.  That attracted members of several local churches, including Methodist, Catholic, Quaker, Seventh Day Adventist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Russian Orthodox and Mormon, among others; two local synagogues, and the Moosalla Noor Islamic Community, which is in the process of building a mosque in the Village of Lansing.

In its first year the dinner has also been held at Myers Park and Forest Home Chapel, as well as the Lansing Community center.  Each month a letter is sent out to invite all community members of any or no faith to bring a dish to pass (or not if that would be an impediment to participating) signed by Rev. Alison Schmied (LUMC), Mahmud Burton (Islamic Community Outreach), Tikun V'Or co-President Sean Murphy, and community member Lisa Campbell.


Veaner says that some regular participants are working with a Cornell student to form a local 'Hate Has No Home Here' campaign. The national organization was begun in Chicago's North Park neighborhood, using yard signs and posters to begin the process of building relationships among people of different ethnic or religious groups, a message that resonates with the Interfaith Dinners' purpose.

"We are taking the time to get to know each other, building a level of trust that will allow courageous conversations to work together to find solutions to problems that divide us," Veaner says.

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