Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Newcomers given a hearty welcome for Thanksgiving

When Victoria couple John Macdonald and Dagmar Wanke sit down for Thanksgiving supper, their table will be graced with something new — people they have never met.
VKA thanksgiving 005.jpg
Tuesday: John and Dagmar Macdonald take part in the Share Thanksgiving program, which encourages people to invite recent immigrants to Thanksgiving dinner.

When Victoria couple John Macdonald and Dagmar Wanke sit down for Thanksgiving supper, their table will be graced with something new — people they have never met.

Macdonald, a retired building supplies retailer, and Wanke, a therapist, will be taking part in Share Thanksgiving — a grassroots, national program to pair up families, new to Canada, with Canadian families who have spots at their tables.

“This just sounded like a nice idea to share our culture,” said Wanke, 53.

“When people come to a new country it’s always a challenge,” she said.

Share Thanksgiving calls itself a “turkey-based matchmaking service.”

By working with local agencies, including the Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria, the service pairs immigrant or refugee families with Canadian families who express the desire to be hosts.

An urgent call-out is underway for more Victoria families who would like to host newcomers for Thanksgiving.

Share Thanksgiving started last year in Toronto as a pilot project.

This year it’s expanding into seven major Canadian cities: Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary, Regina, Vancouver and Victoria, as well as several smaller centres.

“All of the families who did it last year said they would do it again,” said Robyn Chatwin-Davies, 22, a recently graduated engineer, originally from Victoria, now helping to take Share Thanksgiving across Canada.

Chatwin-Davies said amazing connections occurred last year. In one, the father of a family from the Dominican Republic let slip he had played professional baseball in his home. The host family were delighted and everyone started talking baseball.

In another case, newcomers offered Spanish lessons in exchange for help buying clothing appropriate for a Canadian winter.

So far this year, the national registry has more than 620 people signed up, with about 350 of them newcomers, Chatwin-Davies said in a telephone interview from Toronto.

However, in Victoria, she said only about five families have stepped forward to be hosts. But more than 20 newcomer families have registered hoping for an invitation.

Chatwin-Davies said she was originally drawn to the idea of Share Thanksgiving after working in Malawi with Engineers Without Borders.

Everywhere Chatwin-Davies went, no matter how small the village, she was invited to supper at people’s homes.

“People were always so excited to have me over for dinner,” she said. “It was a big reason I felt so much at home there.”

Thanksgiving as a holiday, with the notion of gratitude for a plentiful harvest of food and good fortune, is a perfect way to welcome newcomers to North America, she said.

Wanke and Macdonald are waiting to hear who they will have coming to supper.

They are happy to cook vegetarian. But Macdonald, 63, is secretly hoping the guests won’t object to a turkey.

“Hopefully, we can keep it high on the menu because I do cook a mean turkey,” Macdonald said.

“It’s true,” Wanke said.

To find out more about Share Thanksgiving, go to sharethanksgiving.ca.

rwattts@timescolonist.com