Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) founder and CEO, Kon Karapanagiotidis, will share his love of cooking with donor patrons at two upcoming vegan/vegetarian feasts at the organisation’s Footscray centre.
Initially, only one dinner sitting was scheduled for the evening of 19 February; the 200 head event selling out in just 36 hours.
To the end of raising as much as possible for the ASRCs charitable endeavours, a second lunch sitting will now take place earlier in the day.
“This Sunday lunch is celebrating the greatness of Greek cooking and its beautiful vegetarian and vegan food,” Mr. Karapanagiotidis told Neos Kosmos.
The donation target, originally set at $30,000 has grown to $50,000 in light of the outpouring of support from Melbourne’s sympathetic community.
100 per cent of donations will go towards the ASRCs programs providing food for refugees.
The events have been dubbed ‘Philoxenia’ the Greek term meaning to ‘welcome the stranger’, and it’s something Karapanagiotidis says is at the heart of Greek culture and hospitality.
“We believe in welcoming the stranger and I invite all comers to share a meal that I’ll personally cook so that together, we can aid those seeking asylum.”
Recipes for the two communal meals have been taken from his upcoming yet untitled cookbook, offering a variety of sweet and savoury dishes from Hellenic cuisine’s often overlooked veggie fare.
So far, the events have raised $37,659 of their $50,000 goal as interest in the charitable culinary-cultural exchange has boomed.
“Our donors are providing not just food to refugees, but also a seat at the table of welcome,” he says noting the emblematic significance of the shared meals.
The ASRC was founded in 2001 when Karapanagiotidis, then a TAFE teacher saw people seeking asylum living in the community without even the most basic support.
From humble beginnings operating out of the tiny storefront of a disused Footscray shop, the ASRC has grown into the largest independent human rights organisation in Australia, supporting over 12,000 refugees in the last 15 years.
His work is inspired by personal experiences of prejudice, seeing firsthand the exploitation of his migrant parents while working in factories, and hearing of the harrowing adversity faced by his grandparents as they fled the Pontian genocide in Anatolia.
“At the moment, the ASRC is providing food for over 1,600 refugees every two weeks; almost all of them would go hungry without that support,” he says.
“I encourage anyone who is interested, to please, come and show their own ‘philoxenia’ by coming to this lunch and raising money for those in need. By sharing in this meal and donating they will have a direct positive impact on people’s lives.”
Those interested in attending the ‘Philoxenia’ feast can purchase their tickets while they last via this link.
