Volunteer Dinner - February 8, 2014

When The Couch reopened on February 2, it was quickly decided there was a need to have a thank you dinner for the volunteers who had helped running The Couch last year. We wanted to hold the dinner as soon as possible and quickly settled on having the dinner the very next Saturday.

Messages and emails were quickly sent out, and soon we managed to have roughly 20 people replying they'd be able to come. Unfortunately, some of the volunteers were away interstate or were back in their home countries. However, we pushed on ahead, knowing we'd never be able to find a day when absolutely everyone could make it.

We met at Melbourne Central under the big clock at 6:30pm. Since it was a nice summer night, we resolved to buy some takeaway so we could enjoy the meal sitting on the grass in Argyle Square (Lygon Street).

After getting some menus, Chris organised selecting pizzas to meet everyone's dietary requirements (other than his own craving for anchovies) while Andrew took orders for drinks. Soon, a group of seven volunteers were able to go down to collect the food. They came back with pizzas of all varieties, and drinks for all.

After everyone had a full stomach, Peter thanked everyone for their contributions, and also reminded them how they can choose to be involved in the year ahead. Everyone was feeling very full, but there was some pizza left. Luckily, it was at this point Luca and Shoko chose to make their two hour fashionably late arrival, and helped mop up the leftovers.

We said our farewells as the sun faded, enjoying a walk back into the city together. In the end, 19 Couch volunteers were able to have an enjoyable dinner together.

Some comments from the volunteers were:

• Thanks everyone!! It was a great time together! Hope to see you soon! - Luciana
• Thanks for the dinner and to keep us all up-to-date regarding our activities, much appreciated! - Davi
• Lovely to meet up with everyone yesterday and many thanks for organising the pizza dinner. - Evelyn