At 1 p.m. this Sunday Mildred Council will give the order to start serving the 12th Annual Community Dinner. This event, celebrating Orange County's remarkable cultural diversity, will take place at the McDougle School's "cafetorium" on the Old Fayetteville Road in Carrboro.

The main meal will feature food cooked by Mama Dip's Kitchen, The Carolina Inn, Mint Indian Restaurant, Bandido's Mexican Cafe, as well as desserts and entrees prepared by the Chapel Hill Kehillah, Hadassah, Margaret's Cantina, Chapel Hill Restaurant Group (411 West, Squids, 518 West, Spanky's and Mez), Jade Palace, Il Palio Ristorante, 35 Chinese Restaurant, St. Paul AME Church, Ruth Sanford and Louise Parrish of the Carrboro Farmers' Market, and many more cooks, restaurants, churches and organizations.

More than 600 people will sit down to eat together, many of them strangers until that moment. There will be dishes for vegetarians and diabetics, and this year even more food will be "locally sourced."

As the food line begins to get shorter, the entertainment will begin. Performers include the Cedar Ridge High School Chorus, Prince Miah and the Girl Toyz, singer/songwriter Gilbert Neal, the Joy Williams African Dancers, East Baile Latino Dance Group from East Chapel Hill High School and the Eat Local! performance group. Ron Stutts from WCHL will emcee.

The Community Dinner celebrates our respective cultures and differences.

The dinner is particularly important this year as many people are losing their jobs, businesses, homes and incomes.

Restaurants have pledged food. Towns, businesses and organizations have underwritten tickets for those unable to afford the event. And groups have volunteered to work on the serving line, cut cakes, park cars and assist the disabled.

Advanced tickets are necessary. The cost is $8 for adults, $3 for children aged 10 and under.

For more information, go to http://communitydinner.org or call the Carrboro Branch Library at 969-3006. To volunteer, make a food pledge or to contribute a monetary donation for needy families contact me at rilevy@mindspring.com

And buy your tickets early.

Nerys Levy is the chairwoman of the Community Dinner Committee.