Six Degrees of Fun and Fundraising

Long time Half the Sky supporter, Martha Groves, recently hosted her annual “Friends Meeting Friends Ladies Springtime Potluck Luncheon” and wrote to tell us about this year’s fun and fundraising.

While I started “Friends Meeting Friends” as a backyard gathering for my various groups of friends to share delicious food and renew and make new connections, over the years the event has grown. It long ago outgrew my backyard (so thank you again, former Mayor Riordan, for offering your beautiful backyard and patio, complete with fountain and blooming jacaranda trees!).

The number of people keeps increasing too with friends of my friends, friends of their friends, and friends of my daughter, Nora Tai-Xiu. Each year, we also have many mothers with their daughters from China.

Part of the magic of this event is that people often discover connections they never realized they had. This year, one of my longtime supporters brought a woman I hadn’t met before. They sat down at a table where another longtime friend was sitting. Turns out that my longtime friend and the woman I hadn’t met had gone to elementary school together.

This year’s luncheon also set a new fundraising record. Despite the fact that I shook hands with several women for the first time at the luncheon, they got out their checkbooks. The women of Friends Meeting Friends rock!

Thanks, Martha, we think you rock too!