How To Host Your Own Community Freedom Dinner
When we first started the Freedom Dinners we never could have imagined that our little backyard orchard could hold such depth and beauty. It is like a feast for your eyes and your heart when you see your community come together giving their best and their finest to create a dinner experience like this. Whether you decide to host a small group of friends or a large gathering, I hope this inspires you to see your table and dinner in a new way.
What is a Freedom Dinner?
A dinner hosted, created and attended by your community to raise funds to fight human trafficking. All proceeds from these dinners are donated to Atlas Free.
What Makes a Freedom Dinner Different?
Hosting a Freedom Dinner calls for a little bit of a perspective shift. It’s not about any one person doing everything. These dinners give your community a chance to do what they do best!
Do you know gardeners or flower farmers, bakers and chefs, hand letterers and calligraphers - whether they have businesses or not ask these people to be part of your Freedom Dinner Team!
It takes an army of people to create a full dinner experience. The amazing thing is that when you invite people to do what they do naturally you’re making a way for them to give back in a way that is easy and so deeply connected to who they are.
If you love gardening and growing flowers, how amazing to have an opportunity to use your flowers as a way to give a woman freedom from trafficking!
If you love creating chalk art or hand lettering, how incredible if you could create it and give freedom!
If you love setting up, serving and helping at events, how life giving for you to be able to do so in a way that allows children to have hope for a new future.
When we invite people to join the Freedom Dinner Team, we are inviting them to connect a deep meaning to the parts of their lives that they love the most. It’s empowering and life giving on every level.
Can Anyone Host a Freedom Dinner?
YES! If you have a desire to fight Human Trafficking then YES you should host a Freedom Dinner. We have a complete How To Guide all set for you PLUS I wrote Dinner Changes Everything for this exact reason - to give you the tools, menus and ideas for hosting your own dinner!
What do you Serve?
We like to come up with all sorts of fun menus, but really it all boils down to using what our community has to offer in that season! If the local farms have squash, we add that to the menu. If our orchard is producing fruit, we use that too. Here’s the menu we served at our last dinner, a late summer bounty, to give you an idea. The most important thing is to create a menu that your team and community can easily make.
Ciderpress Sparkler - thank you Marnie Rae for creating this for us!
Summer Noodles with Squash Blossoms
Slow Roasted Salmon with Rhubarb Compote
Caramelized Apple Pear Pavlovas
Here’s to filling your table with people! Our book Dinner Changes Everything has more menus and recipes. There is something about enjoying a meal together that unites us, and when we can look around the table knowing that together we are giving women and children freedom it empowers us to see our lives from a new perspective. I cannot wait to hear about the dinners you are hosting. So be sure to tag us @ciderpresslane and #freedomdinners so we can follow along!
The Freedom Dinners page has more information and tickets to upcoming dinners!
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