Still waiting for your turn?
If you are one of the thousands of people who have registered to participate or host a Welcome Dinner, you may be wondering why you haven’t had a turn yet. In the past year alone, we have doubled the number of dinners (and lunches) held and we are about to reach the incredible milestone of our 200th Welcome Dinner. Every Welcome Dinner takes an average 10 hours of coordination work, primarily done by volunteers. If we have not yet managed to find or appoint a Coordinator in your area, then we probably haven’t had any dinners there yet and since we try to match people up locally, you may not have been invited to one in another area. However, you should be receiving our quarterly newsletter and invitations to larger Community Welcome Dinners when they occur. If you are waiting to host, you can attend as a participant for now. One of our challenges is that in some areas we have a long waiting list and in other areas we haven’t yet found hosts. We are also always seeking more help to invite newly arrived people to take part and much of our time is spent getting out into our local communities to connect with newly arrived people – please assist us with this if you can!
Volunteer profile: Meet Hanum from Melbourne’s inner west
There would be no Welcome Dinner Project if it wasn't for hundreds of amazing volunteers all around the country who give boundless passion, dedication and love to make people feel welcome in our communities. Every fortnight, the Welcome Dinner Project - Victoria will...
Volunteer profile: Meet Sarah from Melbourne’s inner west
There would be no Welcome Dinner Project if it wasn't for hundreds of amazing volunteers all around the country who give boundless passion, dedication and love to make people feel welcome in our communities. Every fortnight, the Welcome Dinner Project - Victoria will...
Volunteer profile: Meet Gillian from Melbourne’s inner west
There would be no Welcome Dinner Project if it wasn't for hundreds of amazing volunteers all around the country who give boundless passion, dedication and love to make people feel welcome in our communities. Every fortnight, the Welcome Dinner Project - Victoria will...
Christine’s Story: “It was actually the very first time I felt welcomed in Australia.”
Merry Christmas! It has been an absolute pleasure sharing these Christmas stories with you and we're delighted to end on this one from Christine* who, for the first time, felt welcomed to Australia as a participant at a Welcome Dinner. More Than Just a Dinner I was...
Andrew’s Story: “For us the WDP is a practical, proactive and positive way of responding to current Australian challenges. “
From Food to Friendship and Family Me and my family are part of the neighbourhood at the local church, where we focus on sharing meals, exploring the world together and making our neighbourhood a little bit better. So when we heard about the Welcome Dinner Project, we...
Sahil’s Story: “I was really interested not only in the food, but more in the people, what they are doing with their lives, how they are living and what they are thinking.”
As an international student, discovering the Australian culture and people was an enriching experience for Sahil, made possible through the WDP. Breaking the Barriers with Food I came to Australia in 2013 and I was 18 years old. I had the worst experience that an...