{"id":1934,"date":"2019-02-01T03:50:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T08:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1934"},"modified":"2019-02-01T01:59:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T06:59:53","slug":"week-229-spread-the-love-happyness-celebrated-with-sarah-harmeyer-and-neighbors-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1934","title":{"rendered":"Week #229 – Spread the Love! (Happyness Celebrated with Sarah Harmeyer and Neighbor’s Table)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"IMG_1487\"<\/a>
The Original Neighbor’s Table (credit: Sarah Harmeyer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Week #229 – Spread the Love! (Happyness Celebrated with Sarah Harmeyer and Neighbor’s Table)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greetings Tribe — and Happy Friday!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, I am so pleased to re-visit this Happyness in Action<\/strong><\/a> story! Back in 2015, I interviewed Sarah Harmeyer of Dallas, TX about her creation of Neighbor\u2019s Table — a simple concept that gathers neighbors around a table to share a meal and get to know one another. Since then, she has personally placed over 200 of her hand-crafted tables in nearly half of the states in the US…with a goal of one table in every state by 2020. And just this week, she appeared on Good Morning America<\/a> to share her story and talk about the power of community! Congratulations, Sarah — and keep growing!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will your backyard be next?!
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Repost from Week #66 – Spread the Love! (Happyness in Action with Sarah Harmeyer)]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, I am so pleased to announce our fifth nomination for Happyness in Action: Sarah Harmeyer of Dallas, TX for her creation of Neighbor\u2019s Table. Sarah took a simple concept and a sweet memory \u2014 and turned it into \u201cA Love Mission\u201d that has kept her (and her family) busy for over four years and just landed her table on HGTV\u2019s \u201cNashville Flipped!\u201d She is the \u201cChief People Gatherer\u201d at Neighbor\u2019s Table \u2014 a movement that encourages people to step outside their homes and get to know their neighbors, one table at a time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it all started in her own backyard!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah shared her story with me: \u201cThe concept of Neighbor\u2019s Table comes from my personal passion for gathering people and my desire to get to know my neighbors.  I asked my Dad to build a table big enough to seat 20. In 2012, I set a goal to serve 500 people at that table, one dinner party after another.  I did it that year, and have now gathered almost 2,000 people since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why a table?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought back to the very best moments in my life and it was always around the table.  It was around the kitchen, planning parties, celebrating other people.  In graduate school I even had a little cafe out of my house and it was the very best year of my life.  So, I started paying attention to when I came alive.  That\u2019s when a friend helped me realize I was a people gatherer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Sarah\u2019s father built her a custom table.  \u201cI had my first party in March of 2012 and I extended invitations to my neighborhood.  I invited them to step outside their home and meet neighbors, even if they\u2019ve never done so.  To my surprise, 91 neighbors came that night — and the rest was history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first goal: 500.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did she go from 91 to 500 that first year?  \u201cI told people my goal of 500 people that year and when people know about your goal they ask you about it.  On Thanksgiving Day 2012, the 500th guest walked down my driveway.  There was clapping, cheers, photos and video.  We did it, it became OUR table, not just my table.\u201d  Since then, Sarah reports that almost 2000 people have celebrated at the original Neighbor\u2019s Table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Sarah didn\u2019t stop there.  \u201cA couple of years ago I asked my Dad if he\u2019d be willing to build tables for other people.  I got to thinking it would be really fun to cheer people on to love their neighbors and to start their own love mission in their community.\u201d  I asked Sarah about the first table they built after their own.  \u201cThe first table we built, after the original, was delivered to a college student in Waco, TX as a surprise from her parents.  We delivered it on October 19, 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been building tables from our family barn and delivering them all over the country.  We want to see ordinary people loving extraordinarily around the table.\u201d  There are Neighbor’s Tables currently in 10 states (updated to 23 at the time of this re-post)<\/em> — with a goal of having tables in backyards in every state in the US by 2020!  \u201cThe power of community that now regularly gathers at the original Neighbor\u2019s Table has spurred a desire to launch a movement — a love mission, if you will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked Sarah what Happyness means to her: \u201cHappiness is gathering friends and strangers alike around the table and figuring out ways the entire time on how to love them.  Happiness is cheering others to love.  Happiness is doing the thing that God has made you to do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you, Happyness Tribe?  Are you ready to Spread the Love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: SPREAD THE LOVE! <\/strong>Do you want to get to know your neighbors? If so, host a gathering — and \u201clove someone to the left or right of you!\u201d It doesn’t have to be a fancy sit-down dinner…it could be dessert, cocktails, game night, or appetizers before or after the Big Game this Sunday. If you are longing for community — the community may start with you! Open your doors! Spread the Love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake time for someone in your community. Look for ways to love those to the left and right of you.\u201d (Sarah Harmeyer)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spread Happyness — Spread the Love!  Get to know your neighbors this week — and tell me about it in the comments!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Thanks, once again, to Sarah Harmeyer for welcoming me to her virtual table and allowing me to interview her back in 2015!  To learn more about Sarah and Neighbor\u2019s Table, read inspiring stories, or find out how to get a custom handcrafted table for your own backyard — follow Neighbor\u2019s Table on <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a>, or sign up for emails or purchase at <\/em>http:\/\/neighborstable.com<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2\/1\/19 by Grace Church<\/em>
\u00a9 Grace Church<\/em>
grace@spreadhappyness.com<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week #229 – Spread the Love! (Happyness Celebrated with Sarah Harmeyer and Neighbor’s Table) Greetings Tribe — and Happy Friday! This week, I am so pleased to re-visit this Happyness in Action story! Back in 2015, I interviewed Sarah Harmeyer of Dallas, TX about her creation of Neighbor\u2019s Table — a simple concept that gathers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1937,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}