Enjoy some Food for Thought each October
Sharing food with family and friends can be the best way to make good memories, and each October, it can also be a great way to make a difference. Opportunity International Australia invites you to enjoy some Food for Thought by gathering your loved ones for a meal any time in the month of October, in recognition of the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October).
Whether you love to cook or just eat, a Food for Thought event is an opportunity to host family, friends or colleagues for a fun meal that also raises awareness and funds for people in need – funds that will help poor families in developing countries start a business, earn an income and work their way out of poverty. Visit www.foodforthoughtevent.org.au to get started today!
The rules: there are no rules
Curious if there are guidelines around the kind of meal you can host? The short answer: not at all! We want you to enjoy your event as much as possible, so whether that means cooking or going out to eat – go for it. You can choose to host a formal dinner, a pizza party, to throw some snags on the barbie or even go out for pancakes – anything at all. Just invite others to come and donate to Opportunity to support your event.
Event ideas to get you started
- Formal three course meal with matching wines
- ‘Make-your-own’ pizza party
- Picnic
- Dessert night
- Backyard barbeque
- Leave the apron off and book a restaurant (or for those who are game, visit a karaoke restaurant!)
- Reduce your workload and ask guests to bring a plate
- Country-themed dinner with Indian, Indonesian or Filipino cuisine (in honour of where Opportunity works)
- Workplace lunch
- Cooking class
You’ll find more Food for Thought event ideas in the toolkit you’ll receive once you register.
Where do the funds go?
All the money raised through Food for Thought events will go towards helping Opportunity provide microfinance and other support services to people in developing countries – whether by expanding our operations and outreach, building the capacity of the organisations we partner with or by providing small loans. Either way, funding will be directed to wherever it’s needed most. One business impacts one family which equates to, on average, five people. So go on – eat, drink and be generous!
How do I get started?
Step 2 Take a look at our toolkit to help make hosting your event as easy as possible
Step 3 Eat, drink and be generous!
To help you to concentrate on honing your Masterchef (or pizza-ordering) skills, we’ve created a Food for Thought toolkit and online fundraising page. These should help make hosting your event as easy as possible.
What’s in the toolkit?
- Event ideas: from three-course wine dinners to picnics, ideas to get you started.
- Event checklist: all the steps involved in hosting your Food for Thought event, including how to set up your fundraising page, how to ask for donations and what to do after your event.
- Types of donations: find out the many ways your guests can give.
- Opportunity cheat sheet: get to know the basics about us.
- Sample invitation: want us to create your invitations for you? We can do that!
- Donation/contact forms: to collect donations at your event or the contact details of your guests.
- Placemats: featuring stories from some of our clients in India, Indonesia and the Philippines – people who have used small loans to turn their lives around.
- Conversation starters: fun facts and figures about cuisine and the countries where we work, as well as some more sobering statistics about poverty. Use all, some or none at all!
Download the Food for Thought toolkit here.