“Making friends and networking community-minded women”
[Note: This is a story by James Ziegler, a former journalist intern at the now-defunct Spokane Metro magazine. This story was to be published on the magazine's blog, but since that got forestalled we are sharing it here. Thanks to James for taking an interest in our group.]
Warm greetings are shared as Shrinking Violets trickle into One World Cafe for their monthly Ladies Who Lunch event. Young interact with older like life-long best friends. After everyone is seated, founder Mariah McKay stands to call for a round of introductions.
The Ladies Who Lunch is just one part of Spokane’s Shrinking Violet Society, a six month old women’s group that boasts over 300 members.
Photo by James Ziegler
“Our events tend to be more intimate than that,” McKay points out. It’s hard to get 300 members in any one location. Rather they are spread out over different events like Ladies Who Lunch, typically ranging between 5-30 people in attendance.
The society started after McKay noticed how hard it can be for women her age to establish a peer group in Spokane. She wanted a place for women to meet and talk about events going on around town, but she was also curious about what could happen when a group of strongly community-minded women comes together.
The Shrinking Violets may only be six months old but McKay estimates the group has already brought thousands of dollars into the local economy with their events.
“Part of our groups purpose is to build a web of community to get word out about important information more quickly,” McKay said. “I’m really in the business of creating social infrastructure.”
While most Shrinking Violets members fall between the ages of 18-35, all ages are welcome, men too. As it says on the group’s Facebook profile, “we only ask for young at heart.”