Pay-what-you-can community dinners open to entire community
Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 29, 2026
Eagle Harbor Church plays host to a pay-what-you-can community dinner on the second Tuesday of every month.
It was started by Mira Rosenkotz, a Bainbridge Island resident with a passion for food equity and building community on the island. Rosenkotz has volunteered with Super Suppers, a free feeding ministry run through several churches on BI, and Helpline House, and often thought of how they might run a community dinner of their own. “And I realized, oh wait, I can.” The first community dinner took place in March of 2024 and has been taking place once a month ever since.
These monthly community dinners are open to the entire community of Bainbridge Island. Everyone is welcome to show up and pay what they can to enjoy an evening meal with their island neighbors. In fact, that was one of Rosenkotz’s primary goals: creating a unique intergenerational and interclass space that brings the community together. “Every month I meet new people,” Rosenkotz explained, “in January we had 55 diners.”
The folks involved with the community dinners partner with farms on the island as well as the surrounding communities to bring fresh, in-season produce to their meals. Some of their closest partnerships include Persephone Farm and Coyote Farm. Rosenkotz chose to work with local farms because there can often be a cost barrier for lower-income families to get fresh produce, and it gives the local farms an additional outlet to sell their produce. One of Rosenkotz’s goals for the future of the community dinners is to develop more relationships with local farmers as well as to create a space where the community can gather.
If you are interested in joining the community dinners, there are several ways to do so. First and foremost, Rosenkotz encourages people to come join these monthly dinners at 6 p.m. and just get to know their neighbors. However, if you are interested in volunteering to help prepare or clean up after the meals, you can email Rosenkotz and her team directly at mirarosenkotz@gmail.com. Additional information can be found on their informational flyer and at the dinners themselves. But, per Rosenkotz, the “best and most supportive thing you can do is come down and meet your neighbors.”
