Hello lovely people!

This Saturday, the 16th of March we are celebrating our 3rd anniversary. Yes,' it's been three years since we started this project in March 2010 and we hope you can make our celebration more special by joining us this Saturday. Come, bring your smile, your friends or any poor or homeless people you may know or meet.

Our small team, joined by a very enthusiastic crowd of volunteers, will be there once again to prepare, cook and serve meals to all the hungry mouths that come to enjoy this meal.

To see what this all looks like, check this video here:

http://www.rbb-online.de/himmelunderde/archiv/himmel_und_erde_vom2/dinner_fuer_viele.html

We are doing our best to reach those in need and it's great to see that every time we have more and more new guests coming from the underprivileged community of Berlin. And if you know or meet anyone that makes you think they may need a free meal, don't hesitate to bring them over. Your guest is our guest.

How does this work:
Each time we serve a 3 course meal (first dish, second dish and a dessert) with a free drink to everybody.
People who can afford the food may leave a donation. You can give whatever you feel your dinner is worth and you are willing to give. There's no minimum donation. This donation pays for your food and funds a meal of the homeless person. In other words, with your money you're feeding homeless (and yourself).
Hopefully people can see that this is more of a social event rather than food for free type of thing. Indeed, one thing that the poor people that came in the past praised us for was the opportunity to talk to and mingle with 'ordinary' people. Someone they don't really have the opportunity to interact with.

The poor/homeless community is a very segregated community and their daily interactions revolve around their fellow peers and social workers. They very seldom have the chance to venture outside these circles, so having a venue where they can meet people of other social ranks and talk to them and tell them about their lives and interests and passions is of great value to them. Coming to this dinner you give them the possibility to shine, even if only for one evening a month.

So, we have the homeless and non homeless sitting at the same table, but what then? How to communicate?

It doesn't really take much to start a conversation with a stranger. Maybe you need someone to pass you the bread. Or you don't understand something on the menu (written only in English - a great excuse for conversation!). Or you are curious about how this dinner works. Whatever it is, just remember one thing: people come to this kind of events not only for the food, but for the company as well. So don't be shy. People sitting next to you are probably as curious to meet you as you are to meet them.

As far as drinks go, most places that serve food to homeless don't allow alcohol for obvious reasons. This is why your free drink will be a soda or a juice (or mineral water). Please don't bring your own drinks, especially not alcohol. This has worked out greatly in the past and I hope it will continue like this.

We owe a lot to Cafe Hilde who donate most of the drinks we use for the event. Their help and support is invaluable and we strongly advise checking their website and even better, their great cafè:
www.hilde-berlin.com

The event is a non smoking event, but you may smoke outside the venue.
For this event we still need some help, especially flyering, but also in the kitchen. So, if you'd like to become involved, please send us a PM.
Come hungry!
See you on Saturday!

the crew