About The Weekly Dinner - Minneapolis Chapter

What We Are About
I have received quite a few emails regarding this group and it seems folks are wondering just what sort of group it is. I guess that the answer is simple. It is a place to make new friends, enjoy a good meal and socialize - no this does not translate into a "Singles" group. That is not really my intent - granted there will be single people there but I didn't create it for the purpose of folks hooking up. I want everyone to join - single, young, older, married, students - ALL people. The point is to meet people, feel comfortable and have a good time without being pressured.

Contributions and Donations
As a member of Meetup.com you have access to many great group events and activities. You are able to meet people, experience new things and explore other interests. One of the attractive things about joining Meetup.com is that you don't have to pay a fee to join the site. It is free to join Meetup.com, post your profile information and in many cases join a group. The only expense to you is the cost of a meal, a movie or a club cover charge. This is what makes Meetup.com so accessible to so many people.

After you have been a member of Meetup.com for a bit and experienced some of its groups you may decide that having your own group is something you want to explore. You will find out immediately that this is not free. In order to use Meetup.com to organize your group you will need to pay a monthly administration fee. They let you choose how you want to pay. If you are not certain how organizing a group will work and are leery of making a long term commitment you may choose to pay a month at a time. The fee for this is $19 per month. If you are more of a risk taker you will probably opt for the every three month option ($15.00 a month - one payment of $45.00) or the every six month option ($12.00 a month - one payment of $72.00).

When I started this group I knew I was in it for the long haul. I didn't hesitate to pay the $72.00 and set up the auto-payment option with Meetup.com. Six months into this venture I again paid the fees. Along the way several members of the group asked how the system worked with Meetup.com and soon this information became rather public knowledge. Many people took it upon themselves to give me money to cover the expenses I had incurred. I believe to date my out of pocket expense to maintain this group is about $65.00. Not really a big deal, I am absolutely OK with that.

The issue is - our fees are due again. Some of you know that I am currently semi-unemployed, meaning I quit the day job to open my own business. Since all my pennies are being invested in getting the business up and running I am unable to continue to pay the Meetup.com fees on my own. I need help.

I refuse to add a membership fee to this group. I want it to be open to all and I think that requiring people to pay to be a part of this group would deter new members from joining. Instead I would like to ask all those who are able to contribute to the expense. I have set up a PayPal account to accept donations but will also accept cash at events because I realize some folks are not comfortable with using their credit cards online. Since I don't have a "weekly dinner" email address it will say that the site is taking payments for jenn@kombine.net - this is my business email address.

If you would like to make a donation please click on the Big Blue Button below!



In the event that the contributions exceed the needed amount to pay Meetup.com, the money will go to help pay for our holiday party later this year.

Thank you!

Jenn