(Chelsea Update would like to thank Cate McClure, deputy legal counsel Michigan State Senate for the information and photos in this story.)
The Women’s Dinner Initiative will hold its second anniversary holiday potluck on Thursday, Dec. 6 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Chelsea.
The initiative is an informal group of local women who meet quarterly for a potluck dinner to benefit a local nonprofit of the hostess’ choice, which benefits women or otherwise furthers issues of particular importance to women.
Representatives of the charity attend the potluck and discuss their work, including the social issues that they attempt to address. The attendees donate what would have been the cost of going out to dinner with friends to the targeted charity.
On Dec. 6, the potluck will benefit the Military Spouses of Michigan, a growing network of military spouses in our state. They support each other through a range of services — including care packages for families experiencing deployment, child care support, pro bono legal services, advocacy programming, and educational and employment forums on topics such as financial literacy and starting a new business or nonprofit.
For more information on the group before the event, please click here.
“The potluck dinners are a terrific opportunity for networking, education and advocacy relating to the public policy and social issues affecting women in our community,” McClure says.
“They offer an intimate venue for engaging in important issues which we may not have the time to think about otherwise, and they offer us the opportunity to pool our resources and thereby make much more of an impact with our donations.”
The group has raised thousands of dollars in the last two years for organizations including Safe House, Avalon House, Ozone House, SAPAC at the University of Michigan, the Conger Scholarship Fund, and Perry School.
More than 300 women are on the email list for the group, although attendance for each quarterly dinner averages from 30-50 women.
The group is popular because the chance to interact with nonprofits in an intimate setting, and enjoy the food and company of old and new friends at the same time, McClure says.
For more details about the event, including the exact location of the dinner, email [email protected] or call 734-646-2370.
