The Gathered Table
As traditional gathering spaces decline and loneliness rises, The Gathered Table offers a food-centered model for rebuilding community across Minnesota. Through shared meals, intentional gatherings, and cultural connection, the initiative uses the table as a place of belonging, care, and reconnection.
Founded in response to rising isolation, The Gathered Table centers food, culture, and belonging as a modern answer to community loss across Minnesota.
A Response to a Growing Sense of Disconnection
In a state known for civic pride and neighborhood roots, many Minnesotans are quietly navigating a deeper sense of isolation. Traditional gathering spaces have thinned. Church attendance continues to decline. Community centers and informal third spaces have faded. At the same time, technology and relentless schedules have filled the gaps without replacing what was lost.
Out of this reality emerged The Gathered Table, a Minnesota-based food and community initiative grounded in a simple but urgent idea. People need places to belong, and food remains one of the most powerful ways to bring them together.
The Gathered Table was created to slow people down and draw them back into shared space. Its focus is not just nourishment, but reconnection. The project positions the table as both a physical and cultural anchor, a place where conversation, laughter, and collective presence are restored through intentional gathering.
Where Food Meets Purpose
At its core, The Gathered Table treats food as a bridge. Bowls of soup serve as an entry point into deeper engagement, offering comfort while opening the door to connection. The initiative blends culinary tradition with community building, emphasizing that eating together is an act of care and shared humanity.
Rather than operating solely as a food service, The Gathered Table functions as a gathering framework. Its work includes catering for intentional events, monthly soup pick-ups designed for busy households, and community-centered gatherings that prioritize shared experience over spectacle.
Each offering reinforces the same message. Community is built through repetition, presence, and care. One meal is never just one meal.
A Community Model Built on Five Pillars
The Gathered Table is structured around five guiding pillars that shape its programming and vision.
Create and Express centers creativity as a communal act. Through food, art, music, writing, movement, and storytelling, individuals are encouraged to share their gifts and personal narratives in supportive spaces.
Gather and Grow focuses on purposeful connection. Whether through networking, collaboration, volunteering, or advocacy, the initiative emphasizes collective effort as the engine of strong communities.
Live and Learn highlights the exchange of knowledge across generations and backgrounds. Listening, mentorship, and skill sharing are positioned as essential tools for mutual understanding.
Nature and Nurture reconnects people to the outdoors as a gathering space. From neighborhood walks to gardening and movement, nature becomes a setting for reconnection and restoration.
Relax and Reflect creates space for stillness. Book clubs, group reflection, and guided breathing encourage participants to slow down and process life together.
Together, these pillars move beyond programming into a broader philosophy. Community does not happen accidentally. It must be designed, protected, and practiced.
A Founder Rooted in Story and Service
The vision behind The Gathered Table comes from Jaylen Lyles, a community builder whose background spans communications, event strategy, and cultural storytelling. A lifelong cook and self-described foodie, Lyles approaches food as both craft and language.
Drawing inspiration from global travel, family meals, and comfort-food traditions, the concept evolved into a purpose-driven enterprise. The goal was not simply to feed people, but to create spaces where individuals feel seen, heard, and valued.
Lyles’ work reflects a broader shift among younger Black and Brown organizers in Minnesota who are reimagining community infrastructure outside of traditional institutions. By centering food and shared presence, The Gathered Table positions itself as both a cultural project and a civic intervention.
January 2026 Soup Pick-Up Orders
Wednesday, January 28 | 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Mount Hope Lutheran Church
Bloomington, MN
Each month, The Gathered Table prepares a rotating selection of comforting, culturally inspired soups for easy pick-up. Order ahead, grab your favorites, and keep warmth on hand at home.
Reclaiming the Table in a Fragmented Time
As loneliness continues to rise nationwide, The Gathered Table offers a localized response rooted in care, culture, and consistency. Its work challenges the idea that connection must be formal or transactional. Instead, it returns to something deeply familiar. People sitting together, sharing food, and recognizing one another.
In a fast-paced world shaped by screens and separation, The Gathered Table insists that community still begins the same way it always has. Around a table.
More information about upcoming gatherings, monthly soup pick-ups, and community offerings can be found at thegatheredtablemn.com.