It started out as a lifeline to Bermuda’s needy, but six months on, the Grateful Bread dinners have turned into a celebration of togetherness.

“It’s more like a wedding party every month,” organiser Juliana Snelling told The Royal Gazette. “It’s a party every month with friends.”

In an echo of the Thanksgiving tradition, the dinners are hosted on the last Thursday of each month: tomorrow’s opens at 6pm in St Andrew’s Church Hall.

Around 200 people get treated to a meal, companionship and, on occasion, live music, at a place where “they feel no difference between people — they feel cared for and loved”, Ms Snelling said.

Part of the ethos comes from the event’s name, taken from the Grateful Dead band, known for its hippy values and culture of togetherness. In that spirit, last month’s dinner came with “a few introductory words about coming together”, Ms Snelling said: “There are two Bermudas — but in this room there is no race or politics.”

A donations table has grown into a popular fixture in the hall: donors bring in clothes, shoes, toys, toiletries and other handy items to divide up among guests.

People who were once guests at the dinners on Church Street have gone on to become volunteers, and so many children come along that Ms Snelling said she has a difficult time telling which children are helpers and which are guests.

Meals are set at one plate per person unless food is left over at the end at 7.30pm. In addition to volunteers, whose ranks have grown to around 100 people, the Grateful Bread gets La Trattoria, Blu, Docksiders, Chef Michiko at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, The MarketPlace and Bermuda Waterworks.

The next dinner is tomorrow night: to find out more, e-mail jsnelling@canterburylaw.bm.