Taneum Fotheringill reflects on her experience at Radically Rural in Keene, New Hampshire
October 2026
Hosting a potluck feels like having an ace up my sleeve – I can invite folks together, ask them to bring something, and know that they will talk to each other, and expect good results. It’s a simple and familiar tool. My go to dish, if it is summer, is a salad with green beans and tomatoes from my garden plus chickpeas and feta (on the side to accommodate my dairy-free friends). I pretty much always want to attend a potluck in the summer and sit outside enjoying the food, company, and atmosphere. As we head into the Big Dark, our semi-threatening phrase here in the Pacific Northwest for winter and reduced daylight hours, I’m dreaming of a cozy potluck. Toasty warm, rich with potatoes and root vegetables, and followed by hot chocolate and earnest conversation. Let me not just dream about it, let me plan it.
That’s what Karl Shatz of Community Plate, a nonprofit organization operating in Maine, is doing: planning potlucks which incorporate intentional storytelling and socializing into dinners across the state. By now, many of us have considered the epidemic of loneliness – probably just as many of us have learned about this phenomenon as have experienced loneliness at one time or another. Through sharing food (and recipes), intentionally crafted storytelling, and well-set tables, Community Plate is encouraging people to nourish our relationships. In the past three years, they have hosted more than 50 community dinners, always following the lead of a local partner who is trusted in the community.
If you feel like you’re missing out, I’d like to invite you to join the party. Taking it nationwide, Karl and Margaret Hathaway, his partner in life and work, invite all of us to help them reach their goal of 10,000 potlucks this summer.
I learned all of this at Radically Rural, an annual summit hosted by the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in Keene, New Hampshire. I have been lucky enough to get to attend several times and I’ve come to anticipate the week in Keene as a convergence of brilliant rural minds from across New England and the country. When I tell people that I traveled from Washington State it usually generates outbursts like “you came all this way?!” Visiting with rural friends is always worth the trip.
Community Plate wasn’t the only group who made me feel a swell of energetic hope, we also heard from JustME for JustUS (JMJU), another Maine-based organization supporting youth organizers (ages 15-30). Having worked alongside teenagers and young adults for a decade, two refrains I often hear from other adults are that the young people are our future and, in other conversations, young people aren’t engaged enough. There is a lot of friction between these two often-professed beliefs. The reality is that ‘young people’ are a hugely diverse group, some of whom are hyper-engaged in political or social advocacy, and others who have never felt welcome or knowledgeable about how to participate – most of whom are somewhere in between.
JMJU provides a strong model for how we can support young people in getting more deeply involved. First, provide solid structure and relationships to people who can help them grow their skills. Second, pay them for their time and show them that we value their work. Third, keep it going – stay committed to the effort and work alongside young people to develop leadership within their ranks and sustain our support. If you think young people are the future, what are you doing now to support them?
Radically Rural’s theme this year was Reckoning & Reorienting. These are two parts which create a whole where our participation is rooted in reality. I invite you to reckon and reorient with the items which keep rising to the top of your mind. For example, if you’ve been feeling like there aren’t enough places to share news in person in your town then consider hosting a potluck. If you are feeling discouraged about how many young people might turn out in the next election, talk to the young folks in your life about casting their ballot.
There are daily opportunities for us to personally reckon and reorient. Attending Radically Rural reminded me that for wicked problems, it is essential to have brilliant and dedicated collaborators.
