Tell us why you'd be good for our On the Table chat

In February, we announced plans to take part in The Chicago Community Trust's “On the Table” campaign to engage the public in building a stronger community.

As a way to celebrate its 99th anniversary, the Trust is hoping to encourage 1,000 mealtime conversations on May 12 of people of goodwill throughout the Chicago area. We signed on because the idea seems to mesh perfectly with our mission to help make our little corner of the world a little bit better place.

In all, we're going to host five of these small community-building get-togethers of civic leaders and ordinary people. When I say small, I mean each mealtime discussion will consist of 10-12 people — a couple of editors from the Daily Herald, then a mixture of four or five community leaders and four or five subscribers.

We've signed up most of the community leaders, but now we'd like to reach out to you. We're looking for people who are free on May 12, for breakfast in Elgin, lunch in Schaumburg or dinner in Downers Grove, Elgin or Mundelein. The only requirements are an interest in civic affairs and perhaps a willingness to get involved with whatever project evolves out of the conversation.

Our goal isn't to go into the conversation with a set project, but rather, to go into the conversation ready for a general discussion to identify an initiative or two that might make for a better community.

The group would identify the need and some potential solutions; our role is merely to get the conversation rolling.

We're looking for collaborative people who want to get involved with the community.

If you'd like to participate, drop us a line at onthetable@dailyherald.com. In a paragraph or two, tell us who you are, why you'd like to be involved and what you'd bring to the table.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks as always for reading.