Christmas Lunch in the Park The 2007 Christmas Lunch in the Park served up a hearty, traditional Christmas lunch to over 1500 disadvantaged Perth residents, complete with gifts and entertainment. The event is only made possible through the assistance of over 400 volunteers. Dawn Tisdale was one of those volunteers: “I wanted to make a difference over Christmas and thought that Mission Australia’s Christmas Lunch in the Park would be a great way to contribute. I’ve been volunteering at this event since 2001 and it’s permanently in my diary now. I was a table host chatting and eating with the guests for my first two years and since 2003 I have been managing a small team of volunteers as a supervisor. In 2007 I also became involved in the planning committee which hopefully I can continue in 2008. "The best thing for me about volunteering at Christmas Lunch in the Park is knowing you have made some sort of a difference. The pinnacle is the one-on-one interaction you experience with the guests. One thing that stuck out for me this year was a new volunteer in my team explaining how she had witnessed a guest opening their present from Santa. The volunteer was so overwhelmed and excited by the experience, it still gives me shivers thinking about the moment we shared.”