National No One Eats Alone Day

February 14^th every year is National No One Eats Alone Day. This is a day to encourage school children to make friends over lunch. Adults usually don't mind having lunch alone. We forget how painful it can be for kids to have to eat lunch on their own and sadly, it happens every day.

As dog lovers, we have puppies by our side to keep us company. Even when we are eating “alone,” we are never truly alone with our canine friends by our side. We should all learn love and compassion from our dogs!

History of National No One Eats Alone Day

Non-profit organization Beyond Differences has created a prevention program called No One Eats Alone to address the growing problem of social isolation in schools. The program, launched in 2012 in several Northern California schools, aims to address an issue affecting students across the country in urban, suburban, rural, public, and private schools. No One Eats Alone encourages students to not only sit with classmates they don't know and get to know them, but also to spot others who may feel left out and inclusive. In 2018, more than 1 million students at more than 2,300 schools in all 50 states participated in National No One Eats Alone Day.

Beyond Differences is a student-led organization focused on ending social isolation in schools around the country. The organization was inspired by a woman named Lili Rachel Smith, who contracted Apert Syndrome and died in her sleep at the age of 15, subject to social isolation for most of her life. Since then, the organization has created numerous programs such as Know Your Classmates and Call Out, Nobody Eats Alone which has become one of the most popular programs in the country, helping to end feelings of social isolation and bring acceptance back to middle and high schools.

How to Celebrate National No One Eats Alone Day

While this is a program held in middle and high schools, if you are interested in participating, try and bring the program to your school by contacting Beyond Differences. If your school has a holiday-related program, celebrate it by sitting next to someone at lunch and tagging it with hashtag # NationalNoOneEatsAloneDay on your favorite social media sites. The main goal of this holiday is to talk to someone you don't normally talk to and get to know them. National No One Eats Alone Day is all about spreading kindness where it is needed, so find a seat and chat with a stranger and see what the possibilities are for it.