American Legion Community Supper & Coffee Hour

Unlikely Collaborations: Belfast’s Torchlight Media Partners with Belfast Legion to Host Cultural Organization and Legion Hall Members from Hardwick Vermont for Community Supper and Coffee Hour

Belfast, Maine—On the heels of the success of their facilitation of StoryCorps’ One Small Step program for WERU Community Radio, local storytellers and community organizers Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle of Torchlight Media announce a weekend of events including a community supper on Saturday, March 2 from 6–8 p.m. followed by an informal coffee hour on Sunday, March 3, from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Both events will be held at the Belfast American Legion Hall Post #43 and are open to veterans, their families, friends, and the general public. Supper will be served for $10 a plate. The coffee hour is free.

Inspired by the unlikely yet successful collaborations of cultural/community center and social experiment, The Civic Standard, and American Legion Post #7 in Hardwick, VT (a community-led murder mystery dinner theater, flood relief, etc.) as well as their work facilitating one-on-one conversations with strangers from across political divides through One Small Step, Battaglia and Christle were moved to host an event that allows for human-to-human connection between individuals who might not find themselves face-to-face otherwise. 

The Community Supper is open to veterans, families, friends, as well as the general public. It will be an opportunity for members of the Belfast American Legion Post #43 to meet members of the Hardwick, Vermont American Legion Post #7 as well as for community members to meet the veterans in their communities who operate one of Waldo County's largest community gathering halls. Supper will be served for $10 a plate. Community members are invited to come enjoy a meal, play pool, spin a tune on the jukebox, and meet people from their community.

The informal coffee hour on Sunday morning, Unlikely Collaborations: Coffee Hour for People Interested in Building Community in Rural Places, will feature community organizers Tara Reese and Rose Friedman from the Civic Standard in Hardwick, Vermont, Ashton Allen and Phil Mercier from Hardwick American Legion Post #7, Dale Rowley from Waldo County Emergency Management Agency, and Battaglia and Christle for an informal interactive discussion about unusual collaborations in small towns/rural places. Coffee/tea and pastries/fruit will be provided.

“I’ve been in touch with Tara Reese from The Civic Standard for a couple of years, inspired by the way they engage their community,” says Battaglia, “so when the timing and opportunity came about to invite the Civic to Maine to discuss community building, organizing, and resilience, it felt like a perfect moment to formally begin a relationship through a trans-New-England, cross-stateline, Legion-to-Legion event in Belfast.”

"Last November we tried our first event at the Legion,” says Rose Friedman from the Civic Standard. “We showed a livestream of the opera ‘La Traviata’ on the big screen and made spaghetti. We invited everyone to get dressed up, and they did. When we booked the hall, we could tell the folks at the Legion had some serious doubts. But they were lovely and generous with us. Since then, we've hosted karaoke nights, murder mystery dinner theater performances, flood relief benefits, and informational meetings in that hall. We've helped them with their events and they've helped us with ours. We're very honored and very excited to visit Belfast Post #43 with our Post #7 comrades, and to find meaningful, lasting ways to extend these collaborative efforts.”

These events are put on by Torchlight Media with support from WERU, Belfast American Legion Post #43, and donations. Tax-deductible donations can be made through Torchlight’s fiscal sponsor, WBFY Belfast Community Radio. Donations of any size are welcome and may be made by mail, online with PayPal, or in person during business hours: Monday–Thursday at Belfast City Hall or Tuesday–Friday at Waterfall Arts. Donations must contain the following language: “Torchlight Media c/o Belfast Community Radio.”