The Common Table Community Kitchen Program

The Common Table Community Kitchen Program

Settlement Services International (SSI) | Parramatta | Volunteer, Casual

About The Common Table

The Common Table is a brand-new community kitchen program launching at SSI's Parramatta office in mid-June 2025. It brings people seeking asylum and humanitarian entrants together through food — creating genuine opportunities to share culinary skills, build food safety credentials, form meaningful connections, and take early steps toward employment pathways in hospitality.

The program runs monthly cooking sessions (the Culinary Club) where participants cook together, share recipes from their own cultures, and build food safety knowledge. Every quarter, participants host an Open Table event — cooking for and welcoming guests from the broader community.

This is a pilot program with real ambition behind it. If it works the way we believe it will, The Common Table will grow beyond Parramatta and become a model SSI can replicate across regions.

About the Volunteer Role

We're looking for enthusiastic volunteers to be part of The Common Table from the ground up — not just when sessions start, but during the design and setup phase. Your involvement from the start means you'll genuinely shape how this program runs.

On a monthly basis, volunteers will:

• Support participants in the kitchen during Culinary Club sessions —helping with food preparation, creating a welcoming atmosphere, and being a consistent, familiar face
• Contribute to the cultural exchange at the heart of the program, being genuinely curious about participants' food traditions and the stories behind them
• Help participants build confidence in a kitchen setting, including supporting practical food safety knowledge as it's built across the program

For our quarterly Open Table events, volunteers will help participants prepare to host guests from the broader community, a bigger, more celebratory occasion that takes a little more effort but is incredibly rewarding.

What We're Looking For

• Warmth, patience and genuine curiosity about other cultures and food traditions
• Comfort in a kitchen environment, you don't need to be a chef, just happy to get involved and get your hands dirty
• Reliability and commitment - participants build relationships with familiar faces, so consistency matters
• Cultural sensitivity and awareness - our participants come from diverse backgrounds, and many have experienced significant hardship and trauma
• A current Working with Vulnerable People check, or willingness to obtain one prior to commencement
• Any language skills beyond English are a bonus, though not required, interpreter support is arranged where needed

Time Commitment

• Approximately half a day per month for monthly Culinary Club sessions
• Two Open Table events across the 6-month pilot period (June to December 2025), which require a slightly longer commitment on the day
• Some involvement in the design and setup phase before launch we'd love you to help shape the program before the first session runs

Why Volunteer with The Common Table?

• Be part of building something genuinely new - this is a pilot program with real potential to grow, and you'll be part of its foundation
• Experience meaningful intercultural connection through the universal language of food
• Support people who are navigating incredibly challenging circumstances to feel welcomed, recognised and connected
• Work alongside a passionate SSI team and partner organisations including House of Welcome
• Gain experience in community program delivery within a leading settlement services organisation

About SSI Settlement Services International (SSI) is a leading not-for-profit organisation delivering life-changing services across settlement, employment, communities, disability, and education. We work with people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, as well as migrants and Australians in need, to build a diverse and inclusive Australia.

SSI is an equal opportunity employer and volunteer coordinator. We strongly encourage applications from people with lived experience of migration, refugee and asylum seeker pathways.