One of the refugees:
'Thanks for making us laugh today!'
ASML employee:
'Thank you for giving us both feet on the ground. And showed us what resilience and co-humanity are really about...'The so-called Melting Pot Dinner brings together different people, each with their own background and story. Corporate volunteers create, together with the elderly, refugees or people with disabilities, a delicious meal. In this special and informal way you meet people you normally don't just meet. You share (life) stories because together in the kitchen and at the table fraternizes. Elderly people are often lonely, they visibly enjoy eating at the table together again. The (young) refugees practice their Dutch while cooking and at Severinus you literally eat in their living room (or garden). This often changes your outlook on something forever.
Carina (Philips volunteer):
"Initially, I had not signed up to cook with refugees. I am not very good at cooking and this target group did not appeal to me as much. Eventually I went because a colleague canceled and I was aware that people count on you. Volunteering is voluntary, but not without obligation. My approach was to cook together and give the young people a fun evening so they would not be occupied with their own problematic situations for a while. I think it worked out well. When I think of refugees, I think of the boats, the images on TV, the hanging out. But at a Melting Pot Dinner, you see the young refugees from a different side. They are very eager to learn and work and are so motivated! Cooking and eating together was an intense and intimate way to connect with people you never meet otherwise. It is very much appreciated by the refugees. I also found it very double, because íI am going back to a warm home, but these people have no home. Where will they sleep tonight...? I want to solve it so much but it's just not that easy. If there were no volunteers, where would they go? I really got a lot of admiration for the Youth House and the work being done there. This activity is handed to you on a silver platter by Samen voor Eindhoven: signing up for a Melting Pot Dinner is very easy, everything is arranged and you just have to go. Actually a small effort. People cooked with heart and soul and I tasted that from everything. It was inspiring to participate and afterwards it was a very nice evening."
With just a few hours of your (work) time, you can already mean something to another person. Want to eat with colleagues with these special foodies, too? Experience a Melting Pot yourself. On Wednesdays from 16.30 - 20.00 you can eat together with elderly people at Vitalis Wissenhaege. Check our FREEWILLERS CALENDAR to see what other dates and locations are available.
It's nice not to have to eat alone. Join us and in doing so, contribute to these "Sustainable Development Goals," or SDGs, to make the world "a better place by 2030"!
