LifeLine Toledo

Attention LifeLine Toledo Community:

Due to low response, we have made the decision to cancel The June LifeLine Community Dinner. We encourage you to join us at the Old West End Festival and enjoy the festivities instead. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. See you at the festival! 🦩

"You can only behold such brightness through a filter of shadows. It is a magical portal opening up in the sky, revealing the pure beauty and wonder of the coming home to totality. Together, darkness and light create a harmonious balance in the universe, reminding us to be grateful for both the shadows that teach us to appreciate the brightness and the light that guides us forward."

Julie Wood

What a night at the October LifeLine Community Dinner! New guests. Surprise guests. Old timers and first timers. The food was fantastic as always - a perfect culinary transition between summer and fall. And the open mic around the bonfire was something really special. Magical. All of it.

The LCD takes enormous effort, and Julie and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped make this night possible: Lisa Craig, Bruce Baer, Cary A Kingsley, Mitch Magdich, Sergio Garcia, Gavin Garcia, Jose, Amjad Doumani, Barry Graham. Special thanks to Darnell Clark for doing such a great job running the grill all night, to Jim Zalewski for running the completely wonderful open mic, and to Sergio and Judy for being such gracious hosts yet again. You all were amazing.

And finally, thank to all of you who attended. You connected together so beautifully - it was like a kaleidoscope. Thank you all.

It’s been about 24 hours and this is my first chance to say anything about it, but the Sweet 16 LifeLine Community Dinner last night was really something special. More than 125 people attended, many for the first time, along with a lot of long-timers and a lot of people in between. We went through a tremendous amount of food and the open mic was great and full of surprises.

But, as usual, it was the people, the conversations, the encounters that made it extraordinary. So many deep conversations happened, many of them healing or encouraging, and a few may have been life-saving. I wasn’t a part of all of them by any means, but I was a witness to several even if from a distance. It was just a beautiful night and a celebration perfectly in keeping with these last 16 amazing years. Thanks to all who attended last night, and to everyone who has done so, contributing to the long line of folks who through food and community have embodied the kind of world so many of us long for.

Of course, the LCD cannot and does not ever happen apart from the hard work and dedication of many people. Thanks to all of you who worked so hard on our Sweet 16:
Julie, Mitch and Sue, Mark, Lisa, Darnell, Jesse, Jay, Phoebe, Bruce, Judy, Jose, Jaye, Debbie, Bill, Jim, Daniel, Brianna, and Sergio. Also, thank you last minutes special music guests Reina Mystique and Mike E. You were all spectacular and I am so grateful for you.

Much love to you all.

PLEASE NOTE!!!!!!
The August LifeLine Community Dinner has been cancelled due to the death of Steve’s father. We hope to see all of you on September 3 for the 15th anniversary edition of the LifeLine Community Dinner, with special music guest Ben Stalets.