Refugee Dinners Founding Support

A home cooked meal means you have a home, a kitchen, a family to cook for, you are safe, you can afford it, and so on... A home cooked meal is about so much more than just the food.
My name is Anna, I am a freelance writer based in Berlin, Germany, originally from Budapest, Hungary, and the organization I have started is called Refugee Dinners.
Refugee Dinners started off as a small, private initiative a year and a half ago, in Berlin. Realizing that most temporary refugee camps don't have kitchens or any kind of cooking opportunities, we invited a group of Syrian women to our home to cook their traditional dishes, and we opened the dinners to the public who could join, share a nice evening and donate a little money to cover the costs. The dinners became a space of cultural exchange, language practice, story-telling circles... Friendships... And, the ladies can take some food back for their families, too!
Soon, interest started growing, we've gotten a lot of publicity and more and more people got in touch from around the world, saying: they want to do the same.
So, a few months ago, we've decided to dream bigger and become an official charitable organization. This way we will be able to connect more potential hosts with more refugees, can officially employ newcomers and will have the opportunity to grow the circle of activities undere the umbrella of Refugee Dinners.
We have all the necessary paperwork done, however, setting up an NGO turns out to be more expensive than we'd thought: one needs to pay a lawyer to consult with, a notary to register it, to get a website created, to get texts translated, and so on. Therefore, we ask YOU to help us a little, so we can help a little more!
We believe that integration starts with individuals and the more of us start it, the easier it will get. Photo by Viktor Richardsson