Sarah Harmeyer is my guest for episode #144 of The Happy Hour. Sarah is the founder of Neighbor’s Table, a concept born from her personal passion for gathering people, and her desire to get to know her own neighbors. She has personally witnessed how lives are transformed when people gather around the table and share their stories. Sarah asked her father to build a cedar farmhouse style table big enough to seat 20. They placed it under the oak tree in her backyard in Dallas, dropped chandeliers overhead, and started inviting. Sarah set a goal to serve 500 that year, one dinner party after another. The 500th guest walked up her driveway on Thanksgiving Day. Now five years later, more than 2500 people have celebrated at the original Neighbor’s Table. The power of community that now regularly happens at the original Neighbor’s Table has spurred a desire to launch a movement – a love mission, if you will. Sarah’s vision is to have tables in backyards across the US, placing them in every state by 2020. Together, Sarah and her father are building more than custom handcrafted tables. They are growing a Neighbor’s Table family nationwide.
Sarah and I met several years ago on a trip to Uganda. I love so many things about Sarah, but the thing that I love most about her is how comfortable and important she makes people feel. In every conversation I have had with her, she makes me feel like I am the only person in the world at that moment. In our conversation today, you'll see her giftings naturally flow right out of that quality. She has an amazing knack for making people feel cared for, seen and important.
We talk all about community, gathering people, and her secret undercover restaurant in college. We also chat about the barriers that keep us from hospitality. To make hosting maybe just a skosh easier for you, Sarah is offering 10% off her shop using the code HAPPYHOUR. So, make sure to check her site out and snag you a few hosting goodies.
And as you may have heard, I am currently galavanting through Kenya with Compassion International, you can follow my trip here.
{You can listen to the show HERE. And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends. Just use the FB & Twitter links at the end of this post!}
Links from the Show
Love Lives Here by Maria Goff
What Sarah is loving: Special Books by Special Kids, PS22 Chorus, Thomas Csorba's From the Foxhole
Connect with Sarah
Connect with Jamie
Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
Sponsors:
Sock Club
Sock Club is delivering the perfect gift experience. Quality American-made socks are sent straight to your loved-one’s door, featuring different designs and a personal note every month, making it the gift that keeps giving all year long. These socks are premium quality, American-made socks, and use cotton sourced from the Southeastern United States. They’re designed in Austin, Texas and knit in North Carolina. (You can tell the difference when you put ‘em on). Go to sockclub.com and get 15% off subscriptions using discount code “HAPPY” at checkout.
Story Worth
Everyone has that family member who tells the best stories. – Whether they are antidotes from their childhood or stories passed down for generations, they are timeless treasures. Now, they are easier than ever to preserve, thanks to StoryWorth. StoryWorth safeguards your narratives so that future generations can enjoy them and brings families together as they get to know each other better. Simply purchase a subscription for someone you love and each week StoryWorth will email them with questions about their life. They reply their stories via email or phone, and after one year, their stories are bound in a beautiful keepsake book. Visit StoryWorth.com/happyhour for $20 off your first order.
Kopari
Kopari is a line of products that moisturize skin and hair, smell great—but without any sulfates, silicones, GMOs or parabens. Instead, Kopari products are made with 100% organic coconut oil. Kopari searched around the world for an oil of the highest quality, with a great aroma and a non-gritty texture, that you can apply head to toe. Say Aloha to the best skin and hair of your life with Kopari. Go to koparibeauty.com/jamie to receive 20% off your order and check out their new product line!
This podcast failed to load unless I play it in a new window.
What was the name of the book you talked about that you said everyone should read?
This podcast was just precious.
I am no someone who is someone who feels like I’m good at entertaining… but this is so inspiring.
& now, I WANT ONE OF THESE TABLES!!!!! 🙂
Oh my goodness. I love every Happy Hour listen, but this one was my favorite yet. Jamie, your conversation with Sarah about people gathering and just plain loving life and others well struck a chord in my heart. Sarah made me realize how pure and simple gathering people together for food and conversation can be. Love love loved it!
I was richly blessed by this podcast! I host a lot of people in my home, and Sarah’s insights were inspiring and so helpful. In fact, shortly after this podcast aired, I told my friend all about this podcast and shared the notes I had taken from the podcast. This past weekend, my friend excitedly called me and said, “I met the girl with the neighbor tables!!!” Come to find out, they both attended a small friend gathering, and my friend (who never even listened to the podcast) felt like she already knew so much about Sarah and was able to get to know her better. So fun! 🙂 Now I want to meet Sarah too!!