By Patty Talahongva
One day Carol Blonder happened to be browsing the various postings on her Facebook wall when something about a potluck to raise money for charity caught her eye. She read it more closely and smiled; it sounded like an excellent idea. Her friend Jennifer Woods also saw the posting of their mutual friend and thought, “Why don’t we do that?”
“It was such a simple proposal to casually dine in with friends, learn about and discuss women’s issues around the world and then be able to collectively contribute to the monthly selected causes,” Woods explains.
So Blonder and Woods joined the Dining For Women (DFW) organization and started “changing the world, one dinner at a time.” DFW started in South Carolina in 2003 when 20 people got together for a potluck dinner. Money they would have spent on a restaurant meal, was instead donated to a fund which the founder, Marsha Wallace, donated to an organization. The idea caught on so well that today DFW is a national nonprofit group with chapters all across the United States, internationally and even in cyberspace. There are eight chapters in the North Central Phoenix area and local organizers hope to add many more.
Blonder and Woods’ chapter is just one branch-off of those local groups that all can be traced back to Rita Dickinson. Nearly six years ago Dickinson started the first DFW chapter in Phoenix after reading about it in a magazine. “I just thought it sounded like a great way to reach out and expand our focus on global issues and women’s issues and combine them together with friends and food,” she says.
Since she has the most established group, her dinners are booked in advance with members bringing an appetizer and their choice of beverage. She shares informational material about the group that’s receiving the donation that particular month—selected by the national office—and then the guests write their checks.
Dickinson says that it’s also pretty easy to start a chapter. Anyone who is intterested can sign up on the DFW website www.diningforwomen.org by filling out the form online, signing the Statement of Mutual Commitment and paying a $25 processing fee. Once your group becomes a chapter, you must host a dinner at least four times a year. Some groups host monthly meals. You choose when you want to meet, who you want to invite and how you want to structure your dinners. Some groups meet in a home, others at their local church and some chapters have brown bag lunches. Within 30 days of hosting your meal the chapter leader sends all monies donated to the national headquarters.
Those charities all are based in Third World countries where the need is great and the American dollar still goes a long way. “The impact of even a $5 donation is so large,” says Blonder, “but it can be as little as a cup of coffee or a glass of wine for us. I think that entry point for people is very accessible.”
Eileen Brill Wagner, the southwest regional leader, says, “Our focus now is starting new groups.”
The chapters don’t have to be exclusively women. They welcome all members. In fact, Wagner is starting a couple’s chapter and Dickinson’s son and daughter-in-law are starting a chapter in Seattle where they live. Wagner says they would welcome college and high school groups, too, since other states already have chapters started by students.
The selected charitable beneficiary for February is the Starfish One by One, based in Guatemala. Other charities that will receive funding in the next four months are in Sierra Leone, Nepal, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Kenya.
“You’re making a contribution to a world outside of yourself, you’re connecting—it’s community building,” says Blonder.
“I think people today are looking for a greater sense of purpose,” adds Wagner. “They want to be able to say ‘I’m doing something to make the world a better place.’”
To learn more about starting a chapter in the Valley, contact Wagner at 602-617-0001 or e-mail her at brillcon@cox.net.
