As thousands of people rallied around Australia on Sunday demanding better treatment of asylum seekers, inner-west residents are doing their bit to make refugees feel welcome.
The Care to Share Project is a series of events, including dinners, cooking classes and art installation, that will run during Refugee Week in June.
Project organisers Bree Anastasi, Danielle Entwistle and Kerry Sanders say they want to show the inner-west is a caring and sharing community.
Ms Sanders said the idea grew out of frustration about the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.
“We wanted it to be a big welcoming party, but it has evolved into this project,” she said.
Hosts are being sought for The Welcome Table, a series of dinners in which families open their homes to a refugee family for an evening. The dinners will be captured by local photographers and the photos will feature at an art exhibition to be held during Refugee Week.
Members of the refugee community will hold cooking classes as part of the Cooking Connections series. Participants will learn how to cook traditional dishes from the host’s country of origin and will meet members of the local refugee community.
The project is rounded out by I Hear You, an art installation comprising letters, pictures and story telling by members of the local refugee community.
Ms Sanders said the project stemmed from conversations started on Facebook via the Inner West Buy Swap Sell page as well as the West Welcome Wagon page.
The West Welcome Wagon, founded by Yarraville’s Mia McGregor, is a way people can donate furniture, clothing and food to the local asylum seeker community.
The project kicks off as the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, opening in Footscray next month, celebrates the success of a crowd-funding campaign for a new Food Justice truck.
The campaign for the mobile food truck, helping asylum seekers access affordable fresh and healthy food, raised more than $153,000 through the support of 970 donors.
