Convivial Dinners are priced on a pay-what-you-can or pay-it-forward model. If you have a low income or a current cash-shortage, you are encouraged to enjoy a free or inexpensive dinner. Then, if you have the capacity, you can pay it forward in a different way or at a different time. Perhaps you can help a neighbour with a small task or make a Christmas treat for a neighbour who doesn’t have family or…
The beauty of this model is that it is NOT about paying it back. Paying-it-forward leads to an ongoing spiral of good deeds being done without any expectations. What a wonderful thing!!
As challenging economic times continue, we recognize that some people may be uncomfortably surprised to be receiving rather than giving. For others, recieving may bring up ongoing feelings of guilt or shame that is just tiresome or embarassing. Three points:
1) We ask no questions when dinners are ordered or picked up.
2) No money changes hands at pick-up time. Anyone who comes in for a dinner, gets a dinner. There are no payments to distinguish one person from another.
3) People like donating. It makes them feel good to know someone else will get a free Christmas dinner. Accepting a free dinner, then, is actually a joyful gift to the person who offered it! Isn’t that a good thing to know? By recieving, you are actually also giving…!
False Creek South was designed to be a mixed income neighbourhood. This is one of the many ways in which the community is considered a success. The Convivial Dinners – and our pay-it-forward wall – are a small way to help create balance between those who are quite affluent and those who are definitely not.