In Boca Raton, Florida, no student at this high school eats alone thanks to a little club called We Dine Together.
Each day, these students of Boca Raton Community High School walk around their school’s courtyard introducing themselves to any and all of their classmates spotted eating alone during lunchtime.
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“If we don’t try and go make that change, who’s going to do it?” said Denis Estimon, one of four founders of the club, in a CBS Evening News interview.
We Dine Together strives to create relationships, build leaders and exercise self confidence by accepting others and breaking social barriers of isolation, as described on their Facebook page.
“Meeting someone who actually cares and listens to what you have to say really makes a difference,” Allie Sealy, another founder, told CBS Evening News. “And that could happen at lunch, that could happen at our club.”
Source: CBS Evening News
According to Estimon, We Dine Together is very important now because some students fear being deported due to recent provisions that President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to push. He told the Sun Sentinel that he hopes the mission of their club spreads beyond their school to students across the nation.
“It’s not a good feeling, you’re by yourself,” Estimon said. “And that’s something I don’t want anybody to go through.”
Check out We Dine Together in action through CBS Evening News’ coverage:
We’ve seen initiatives like this before in Florida. Last year, a wide receiver for the Florida State Seminoles football team sat with an autistic boy at a local middle school during lunchtime so he wouldn’t eat alone.
And, another high schooler created an app called Sit With Us, which helps other students find friends to sit with during lunch.
Your Daily Dish reached out to We Dine Together for a comment.
