Rather than offering a flat $200 in the second round, NOFA-VT asked applicants to request only what they needed—like enough for locally roasted coffee and doughnuts sourced from a local farm—to stretch the funding. In round two, the organization awarded 66 microgrants, 22 of which went to farmer or farmworker hosts.
The Long-Handled Spoon Dinner initiative, named for a popular folk tale, aims to help bring communities together for both safety and connection. (Photo courtesy of Marin Warshay)
Emily Talkow, a University of Vermont graduate student, and Marin Warshay, a writer at a climate solutions advocacy organization, saw the first-round announcement for the microgrants on Instagram, and the two friends immediately decided to apply to host a dinner together.
“We’d hosted a couple dinners beforehand together on a very small scale, so we knew we could pull it off,” Talkow says, “but the grant allowed us to think broader about who we could include and the food we could make.”
A desire to meet neighbors was a common theme in the applications NOFA-VT received. Applicants wrote about isolation and wanting to build stronger networks of care. One wrote that she’d lived on her rural road for five years, had only ever waved to the people around her, and liked the idea of hosting a dinner as an excuse to finally knock on their doors.
According to a 2026 report from the Survey Center on American Life, only 40 percent of Americans in 2025 reported talking to their neighbors regularly, compared to 59 percent in 2012.
A host in the rural village of Craftsbury Commons in the northeast part of the state wrote about how special it was to bring people together from different cultural backgrounds, political viewpoints, and walks of life, while another in the southwestern town of Poultney said it gave them the chance to connect with others running small businesses.
The feeling of isolation isn’t unique to Vermont. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared loneliness a public health epidemic in 2023, and according to a 2026 report from the Survey Center on American Life, only 40 percent of Americans in 2025 reported talking to their neighbors regularly, defined as at least a few times a week, compared to 59 percent in 2012.
The dinner Warshay and Talkow hosted was a warm, cozy affair for about 20 people. The grant required that the dinners happen before the end of April, which, given the time of year and northern location, was a challenge, but one that people got creative with.
Warshay and Talkow cooked naan to go with a dal lentil dish and served roasted rainbow carrots and kimchi from the Shelburne Farmer’s Market, among other dishes. “We got to use local tofu from the local co-op,” Talkow says. “It comes in bulk in a big barrel, so we’ve always walked by it, but the dinner gave us the excuse and the enthusiasm to try something new.”
Friends donated a CSA share of veggies for the dinner, and others brought homemade sourdough and maple ice cream, served with a cherry compote created with frozen fruit they had secured from a farm the previous summer.
At the dinner, Warshay sat next to two strangers, and the next day they went skiing together. “Friendships are the thing that came out of this,” she says.
Scaffolding for Something Larger
While NOFA-VT did not ask hosts to do anything other than enjoy a nice gathering with neighbors over local food, some built a community service aspect into the dinners and the hope they serve as scaffolding for something larger.
“We didn’t say, ‘You have to start a mutual aid connection,’ or ‘You have to figure out a program you’re gonna run in your community,’” Buckwalter says. “But I believe that as we follow up with people further and further out from these, we’ll hear, ’Oh, you know, I got connected to the food shelf, and now I’m volunteering,’ or ‘My neighbors and I have created some mutual safety supports for folks in our community who are more marginalized or at risk.’”
Humphrey was among those who built in a giving-back element. Her guests brought along 25 pounds of canned soup, beans, tuna, and pasta to donate for Feeding Champlain Valley, along with blankets, toiletries, individual snacks, clothing, and even boots for the mutual aid group Street Cats, which offers items and food to people living outside.
Whether or not NOFA-VT continues to give out additional microgrants will depend on funding and also the goals of the organization moving forward, but they have created a tip sheet for anyone interested in hosting a self-funded Long-Handled Spoon dinner, along with a framework for gatherings that can build community.
“We’re going to look and say, ‘How did this go? What do our members want? Do people want us to continue this?’” Buckwalter says. “There’s a lot of different ways that we can build community.”
