Marsha Wallace has started a conspiracy that can't be stopped. In average homes across America, in cities and suburbs alike, more and more women are gathering together and—eating potluck dinners. Sure, it sounds innocent enough, but don’t be fooled. These women are up to something big.
In 2003, Marsha Wallace, wife, mother, and registered nurse from Greenville, South Carolina, gathered a group of women friends and acquaintances together for a potluck dinner. They pooled the money they would have spent going out to dine and sent the money to a charity. Thus was born Dining for Women, the name being a double entendre as the money collected is donated to organizations around the world that support women.
Marsha Wallace, center, with DFW treasurer, Kitty Croke, left, and
Carolyn Mayers, right, leader of the Eastern Shore (Virginia) DFW chapter
Since that first 2003 gathering, DFW has grown to 150 chapters throughout the US and the collective monthly donations are now ranging from $10,000 to $12,000 a month.
The concept of helping women help themselves is near and dear to Wallace who was once herself a single mother struggling to get a college education.
“When women become self-sufficient and independent, they change the world,” Wallace says. In addition to improving their own lot, they improve that of their children and their extended families, too. “It’s my goal to help them in some small way achieve for themselves what I at one time was attempting to achieve for myself: self respect, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and the security of knowing I could provide for my family.”
“We maintain close communication with the organizations we fund,” Wallace says. “DFW chapters receive regular updates about the impact our donations are making in the lives of the women and children.”
The DFW site provides a monthly schedule of which organization they’re supporting. In July 2007, for example, DFW donations went to the Freedom from Hunger organization. In August, they went to Growth Through Learning. In September, they’ll go to the Prevent Human Trafficking organization. Information and links to each group are provided on the DFW Web site, so the information can be shared with all 150 groups and the individual chapters are free to get involved as much or as little as suits them.
Chapters average from 5 to 15 women members. Wallace’s group, in Greenville, is the currently the largest group, with 20 to 25 women showing up for any given dinner, which rotates from house to house.
“But, size doesn’t matter,” Wallace says. “It can just be two or three women getting together once a month. I receive checks in amounts as small as $5.00. It all counts. It all adds up.” And that’s part of the beauty and simplicity of the idea. Women can keep it small, grow it large, whatever works for them.
To give you an idea of how much a bit of mainstream news media coverage could contribute to multiplying good in the world . . . At the beginning of April 2007, DFW had 48 chapters across the country. On April 28, 2007, Weekend Today (a Saturday morning show, not the largest audience) broadcast a short feature on DFW. It resulted in 35 new chapter applications and the momentum has continued. Between April and September 2007 the number of charters has more than tripled to 150 nationwide.
Imagine if the word really gets out. The conspiracy will grow. No neighborhood or city block will be safe from THE WOMEN WHO DINE.
So, kudos to Marsha Wallace, who had an idea and is nurturing it along, for the good of us all.
For more information, including a chapter application and everything you need to get your own DFW group started, including sample invitations and agendas, visit DiningForWomen.org.
Marsha Wallace, third from left, attends the Eastern Shore (Virginia) Chapter
