Mile Long Table Features Service Opportunities for Church Members & Missionaries
Strangers greet each other as they sit down at the Mile Long Table.
By Corey Christiansen, Denver Metro News Media Specialist
Celebrating Colorado’s 150th birthday outdoors in sweltering 95-degree heat with 5,000 strangers may not sound like an ideal party, but for one special night this was the absolute best birthday party in town.
This gigantic gala was known as the Mile Long Table, an event where strangers could gather to enjoy a buffet-style dinner together and celebrate the August 1, 1876 creation of the Centennial State. It was held at the National Western Center in Denver and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played a significant role in the event’s success.
Michelle Stansel (right) helps people put together care kits for the unhoused.
As attendees arrived, they were first greeted by a unique service opportunity organized by local JustServe volunteers. JustServe is a community service platform sponsored by the Church that connects volunteers with local service opportunities. A robust line soon formed next to the JustServe table as the volunteers handed out gallon-size Ziploc bags and explained that the attendees could help assemble care kits for the unhoused.
On the JustServe table, multiple baskets were filled with essential food and hygiene items like granola bars, fruit snacks, bottled water, socks and soap. As each person moved through the line, they grabbed the various items and stuffed them into their Ziploc bag. The attendees could then write a short personal note of encouragement to include in their kit before sealing it.
A total of 150 care kits were assembled in just 45 minutes. Each person who created a kit got to keep it so they could store it in their car and have it ready to hand out to someone they meet who is in need. People who participated in the service project were incredibly grateful for the opportunity and couldn’t stop praising Michelle Stansel and Kelly Lewis – the JustServe specialists for the Denver metro area who came up with and executed the project idea.
(From L to R) Kelly Lewis, Erin Hosmer, Michelle Stansel
In addition to the service project, Stansel and Lewis also helped provide much of the volunteer workforce for the Mile Long Table by coordinating the assistance of 60 missionaries from the Colorado Denver East Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mile Long Table volunteer coordinator Erin Hosmer expressed incredible gratitude for their efforts. “Michelle and Kelly were so thoughtful, responsive, communicative, patient, understanding, respectful, joyful, thorough, kind, and every other positive word you can say about somebody,” she said. “Their heart to help and support the Mile Long Table was evident. They never made it about them, JustServe or the missionaries. They made it about people, connection and the table. They brought the idea of doing a service project to provide participants the opportunity to make a kit for the unhoused. It was such a creative and amazing way to extend the impact of the event beyond just the event itself.”
Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints load potato salad onto a cart. Sister Launa Williams is on the right.
The young men and women who made up the missionary volunteer group were tasked with helping the event’s catering company and they certainly delivered. They transported seemingly endless amounts of barbecue chicken, potato salad and sweet corn succotash to the buffet tables. They also carried mountains of corn bread to all of the tables where attendees would be eating. Throughout the evening, the missionaries kept the buffet tables stocked and then also helped with cleaning everything up when the dinner concluded.
Sister Launa Williams who is from Barrhead in Alberta, Canada was thrilled to participate in the event. “It just brings me so much joy and excitement. I love getting to know new people, and this is like literally a mile of new people that I get to know and talk to,” she said. The Mile Long Table had enough seating for 5,280 people – just enough to fit a literal mile of humanity to enjoy a meal together.
Church missionaries spend a good portion of their time serving their communities and Sister Williams said there was nothing else she would rather be doing that evening. “We know that Jesus Christ, when He was on the earth, He served everybody. And so I think it’s super important that we also take all the opportunities that we can to serve the people of Denver, Colorado and get to know them as Jesus Christ would want to get to know them as children of God.”
Elder Logan Woodward (right) restocks food for the Mile Long Table.
Despite the heat, Elder Logan Woodward from McCall, Idaho just focused on serving as many people as possible and he also enjoyed the experience. “You just get to forget yourself,” he said. “You get to work. You get to learn to love. You get to learn more reasons for everything. You get to help bring joy into people’s lives. You really just get to forget everything that you leave behind and just make sure everybody’s getting to know the Savior and getting to, you know, feel joy.”
For volunteer coordinator Erin Hosmer, this was the first time she had ever worked with Church missionaries and she was absolutely amazed by everything they accomplished. “Wow!!! They walked into the volunteer room, got their t-shirts and within minutes were serving and making things happen,” she said. “Then, after the dinner, I looked over and they were helping clean up, which was not even part of what they signed up to do. It was really amazing to see such a young group of people serving so purely, and with so much joy. We can’t thank them enough! I personally hope I have the opportunity and honor to work with all of them again!”
Angela Hawkins is a JustServe Specialist with the Aurora South Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and volunteered to be a co-host for the Mile Long Table. Her responsibility entailed inviting 8-10 people to attend, but she went above and beyond and was able to get 15 people whom she invited to come. Hawkins didn’t sit with anyone she knew though because the event’s format was to randomly assign everyone to a table so they could meet new people and strike up conversations with strangers.
“This is essentially a community event where anyone who wants to join is invited to dinner to sit with and meet strangers, to have deeper, somewhat more vulnerable conversations with them,” Hawkins said. “Especially since our part of the world has shifted from community to isolation, I loved the idea of gathering with strangers and wanted to support it.” At Hawkins’ table, she led multiple conversations that focused on more than just the weather. She learned about unique hobbies of those at her table like playing the oboe and one who had even gone skydiving. She found a shared interest in ballet with a woman at her table and is now making plans with her to go to a ballet performance together.
The evening concluded with the large crowd singing happy birthday to Colorado and then everyone enjoying a slice of vanilla or chocolate birthday cake. Regardless of everyone’s varied backgrounds, this became an evening of shared humanity where differences were celebrated and the Denver metro community was significantly strengthened.
#UpliftColorado
