A Civic Dinner around Sustainable Action!

At the India GCC 2019, the Melton Foundation partnered with Civic Dinners, a community engagement platform bringing together individuals from different backgrounds onto one Dinner Table. We organized our first Networking Dinner – A Civic Dinner around Sustainable Action, where we broke bread to make an impact. Our Table hosts featured below, turned simple dinner tables into impact hubs, leaving attendees with reflections, calls to action, and moderations in their daily lives.

Clockwise from top left: Akshata Bhadranna, Kwabena Twumasi Ankrah, Divija Lahe, Pedro Poblete Lasserre, Mrudula Joshi, Rajath R Dani, Chirag S Rao, Neli Blum, Sandeep Anirudhan, Nickhil Sharma

Being picturesquely situated underneath a gigantic mango tree and a fruit-bearing tamarind tree amongst other natural foliage, our venue, Mango Trees at J.P.Nagar, Bangalore, evoked a feeling of being in tune with nature’s tranquillity. It was the ideal setting to set ideas rolling and inspire actions. In the words of a diner, “My table inspired me to not just talk about sustainability, but implement it in my daily life and remain motivated and connected to the commitment towards sustainability.”

80 guests and 10 Table Hosts, from over six countries, came together to discuss sustainable ideologies, veganism, mobility, zero-waste living, climate change, and other pressing global issues of today. Considering the amount of diversity in culture, thoughts, and opinions present at one dinner table, one of our participants expressed, “Everyone brought something new to the table. It was a diverse audience that’s passionate about sustainability.”

Yet another attendee remarked, “The table had people from varied backgrounds and experiences, students to professionals poured their hearts out to seek information to make a better life in the social sphere.”

The objective of the Civic Dinner was to intimately interact with people and exchange views on different aspects of global issues, ultimately yielding practical and effective solutions. More importantly, the dinner ignited the minds of the people involved to work towards a sustainable future by finding out what their contribution would be. Upon asking the attendees on what calls to action the dinner left them with, one of the responses received was,“My Call to Action is to really look at the people in our lives and see how we can infuse change in their lives. To contribute to each other at the table, we need to start with ourselves. “

Inevitably, the conversations empowered many individuals to create instant impact by making changes and improvements in their daily routines. In a frank admission, an attendee noted, ” If I want change, I must start right now, no excuses. I am accountable to myself.”

Being the very first such initiative undertaken by the Melton Foundation, the Civic Dinner was a grand success. We extend our gratitude to Civic Dinners, an organization working with cities, regions, non-profits and thought leaders to design and manage community conversations. A big thank you to Mango Trees, for providing the perfect setting for the event and arranging an amazing feast. We’d also like to thank our Table Hosts, who are global changemakers in their own right, and all the participants for creating and developing lively and thought-provoking discussions with an eye on sustainable goals. The Civic Dinner created strong impressions about sustainability, and many attendees were looking forward to an encore by the end of the evening!

“The major action or impact that this Civic Dinner left me with is the fact that we need to have the right conscience towards anything done for the betterment of the world….even if it is one small step, the right intent will inspire ripples of change.”

Watch our compelling Civic Dinner Documentary Video and see the magic come alive over dinner conversations! Visit civicdinners.com to find out more about the power of networking over food!