Mental Health Awareness Month<\/a>, and the kick-off event for 10 Days of Connection, a movement to bring communities closer, The Longest Table will also welcome as a guest Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former U.S. Surgeon General who called loneliness a health crisis.<\/p>\n ![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mass.jpg\" "\\"mass.jpg\\"")
A Longest Table event in Chicopee, Mass. The community event started in New York\u2019s Chelsea neighborhood. Courtesy of The Longest Table <\/p>\n
Joan Godoy, CEO of Radical Partners, one of the community groups partnering for the event along with The Underline, Elevate Cities and Knight Foundation, says that dining swiftly opens the pathway to connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you eat, you feel nurtured. That quick connection of rapport allows us to have deeper conversations,\u201d she said. \u201cGood food allows us to break the ice while we\u2019re breaking bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cheryl Overton, who moved to Miami a few years ago from New York and has participated in The Longest Table events there, will be acting as one of the table captains, volunteers who invite friends and set the theme for a table.<\/p>\n
Though this is the first public event in Miami, she anticipates a lively turnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have people who come solo and people who come with a group, but the spirit is very much people walking from table to table,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not unusual to see people walking down the table. Your table is your home base, but people are mingling.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Diners](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/table "\\"table")
Diners share dessert at the first invitation-only Longest Table event. The Friday event is open to the public. Caroline Elaine Photography <\/p>\n
She has cooked for the event before and once ordered takeout from one of her favorite restaurants in Harlem in hopes of boosting the restaurant\u2019s profile. She has seen people show up with everything from pizzas to charcuterie boards and plans on sharing her favorite medianoche and Cuban sandwiches on Friday, with sides of fruit, cheese and charcuterie and a special spritz drink.<\/p>\n
The key, she says, is having fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody should come suffering from PTSD because they spent the day working in the kitchen,\u201d she jokes. \u201cAll of our social media feeds are filled with divisiveness. This is something that brings people together where they\u2019re organically mixing and mingling, with kids and pets and people of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI moved here as an adult, and I own my own business and don\u2019t go to an office. I don\u2019t do a lot of the things that you do to meet new people. Finding community here has been more important than I realized.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Longest Table<\/p>\n
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. May 1<\/p>\n
Where: The Underline Inter Grove Gallery, 2771 SW 27th Ave., Miami<\/p>\n
Cost: Free<\/p>\n
RSVP and for more information on 10 Days of Connection events: events.10daysofconnection.org<\/a><\/p>\n Connie Ogle loves wine, books and the Miami Heat. Please don\u2019t make her eat a mango.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first invitation-only version of The Longest Table at The Underline in Miami. Friday\u2019s event is open to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-252228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/table1.jpg\" "\\"The")
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