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!
Rachel’s Story: “When we reach out to people, when we smile, connect, acknowledge the differences and similarities,we are making a huge difference.”
Changing the World One Dinner at a Time I’ve been coordinating The Welcome Dinner Project in Melbourne since 2016. Coming from a politically active family and having worked in the settlement sector, with service providers and young people, WDP was something that was...
Ali, Haneen & Hasan: “All the adventures that I am experiencing these days is because of my new good friends from WDP.”
Arriving to Australia as a family from Iraq, Ali, Haneen and Hasan were able to form a large circle of friends through the WDP: Good Friends are Priceless Initially we were involved with the Welcome Dinner Project as guests. After this first Dinner, our circle of...
Serena’s Story: “Thank you, WDP, for broadening my horizon and giving me new experiences.”
As an international student from China, Serena shares how WDP helped her come out of her shell while studying in Australia: Big Start for My New Life in Melbourne When I arrived in Australia to study my accounting/business law Master degree, I didn’t participate in...
Maisoon’s Story: “We really needed a program that would give us a chance to feel less embarrassed, less alien.”
An Honour to Meet Australian People When me and my family came to Australia in 2007, we felt like strangers who couldn’t express themselves. Back then we really needed a program that would give us a chance to feel less embarrassed, less alien. If WDP existed back...
Kate’s Story: “The Welcome Dinner Project was quite eye-opening for me.”
It's common for friendships to remain long after the Welcome Dinners are hosted. One particular example comes from Kate, who shares the privilege of getting to know one of her dinner attendees. A Privilege for Me I finally got around to contacting one of the newly...
Zaki’s Story: “We need these opportunities to bring humanity back.”
On the 3rd day of Christmas, we meet Zaki from Afghanistan. After struggling to feel a sense of community during his first two years in Australia, he was able to find it through The Welcome Dinner Project. A Feeling of Belonging In 2014 I met Penny Elsley and that...
