DINNER FOR THE WHOLE STREET
In August 2003, the small town of Millbrook in Ohio had the hottest week in its history. On the first evening, all the lights went out, and for six days there was no electricity in any of the houses. Nobody could use a kitchen, because the electric stoves did not work. The fridges were off too, so the food went bad. Children could not watch TV or play computer games, and the hot nights were long and dark. Many families just sat outside on the street, where it was cooler.(lines 1–11)
On the third evening, Rosa Diaz, a cook who had just retired, carried her big kitchen table out into the street. She put a small gas stove on it and called her neighbors. "Bring me the food from your fridges," she said. "If I cook it all tonight, nobody will have to throw it away." Soon there were twenty tables in a long line, and eighty people were eating together. One year later, the neighbors decided to have the same dinner again, on the same August evening. Nobody needed a gas stove.(lines 12–16)
Today, Street Dinner Day is held in more than four hundred towns. A teenager from Millbrook filmed that first dinner and put the short film online. Since then, millions of people around the world have watched it, and some cities in Japan and Brazil now have their own dinners.(lines 17–20)
Each town celebrates the day in its own way. In some places, the tables are a kilometer long, and families bring a dish from the country where their grandparents were born. Not everyone thinks the day is important. "It's a nice party, but one dinner a year can't change a street," says one man from Millbrook. Dr. Helen Brooks, who studies life in cities, does not agree. "When people eat together, they learn their neighbors' names," she explains. "Later, they are the ones who help when someone on the street is sick or needs a hand. That can start at one long table."(lines 21–26)