Inaugural Gratefull GVL potluck draws thousands to share a meal in the middle of Main Street

Show Caption Hide Caption Inaugural Gratefull GVL potluck draws thousands Inaugural Gratefull GVL potluck draws thousands to the Main Street Bridge, Monday, Nov. 25, 2019.

The weather was almost as good as the mac and cheese.

On Monday, the rich smells of dressing, ham, spiced rice and barbecue climbed into a cloudless blue sky, as if beckoning people to come, grab a plate and enjoy a meal.

Some 3,000 people gathered in the center of Main Street to share experiences and a table at the first Gratefull GVL potluck event. Where normally cars and trucks drive, there were instead 400 feet of table space, set with disposable tablecloths and festive greenery.

More than 400 volunteers in orange aprons served, directed people to empty seats and cleared tables. People ate in the shadow of some of Greenville’s most luxurious spaces — riverfront condos, topside pool club, the new downtown location of the Greenville Chamber.

By 11:30 a.m., hundreds were already waiting in the four buffet lines that stretched from the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre back to the intersection of South Main and Broad Streets.

Volunteers and organizers had been working for hours prior to set up food, tables and to prepare for the unknown.

Olivia Phillips and Betsy and Drew Daubenspeck waited in one of the lines that reached almost to Broad Street. The Daubenspecks and Phillips did not know one another before but got to talking over the course of waiting. They found a shared kinship over art — Phillips does ceramics and Betsy Daubenspeck works with pastels.

Phillips had just happened upon the event that morning.

“I have family that is out of town, so I was gonna have a Friendsgiving,” said Phillips, who moved from Louisiana last year. “It’s inspiring to come down here and just see all these people that are complete strangers. I’m going to be having my Thanksgiving with the biggest family ever!”

A Community Potluck

Gratefull came from a similar citywide potluck in Chattanooga. The potluck in that city began in 2014 and has gained traction over the years, both as an event for everyone and as a fundraiser.

In Greenville, the idea grew from Greenville native Mary Beth Cross and her son, Mack Cross, one of the developers of Gather GVL. They partnered with Project Host, and it grew from there, based on a desire to bring people together over a shared meal.

Organizers had a few rules for the event: From the beginning, It had to be free, it had to include good food and it had to be for the entire community.

In Greenville, the food was a mix of 60 percent restaurant donations and 40 percent store-bought and dishes from people’s homes. The food tables were filled with varieties of mac and cheese, green bean casseroles, dressing, roasted turkey, cured ham and chicken sandwiches. Vegetables and salads added color and desserts were plentiful. Cookies, cakes, pies, brownies and sweet breads ensured no sweet tooth would be left unfulfilled.

But the food was just a vehicle for something deeper. Men in business suits sat next to men in donated scarves and coats, and college students sat with retirees.

Finding connection

Charlie Martin loved the macaroni and cheese, and Josh Trainer liked the apple crisp and those weren’t the only differences between the two men, who sat next to each. Martin, 64, is African American and a native of Greenville and Trainer, 24 is white and a native of Clover, South Carolina. But, for 30 minutes, the two men sat at the same table, shared stories, ideas and a meal.

Their conversation weaved between Martin’s mother’s cooking and his retirement from a bakery, and Trainer’s faith and thoughts on Greenville.

“Coming up we were taught to help other people, and what other way to bless somebody than to feed em?” Martin said. “There is a lot of hunger in this word and a lot of stuff going on. This is awesome.”

The event also had its share of prominent attendees. Former Secretary of Education Dick Riley along with Betty Farr shared the stage with Mayor Knox White and nationally renowned poet and Upstate native Moody Black shared an original poem he wrote just for the occasion.

“We are all autumn leaves of togetherness,” Black said, reciting his poem. “Even though we all float with different colors we are all from the same tree. So, it’s only fitting that we find ourselves sitting at the same table.

“With overcoming hardships in our eyes and being grateful in our smiles, we find peace knowing we have this moment of coming together, at this long table.”

In the end, the meal was a start. In between the discussions of favorite foods and hometowns was perhaps something more lasting.

“You sit down with people and start eating, you kind of figure out what they’re really hungering for, what they’re really looking for,” Trainer said. “It creates a lot of empathy I think.”