Dine with friends, change the world
Dining for Women to host March 8 event
By DEVIN HEILMAN
Staff Writer
You can help change the world just by getting together with friends for a dinner party.
Through Dining for Women, ladies (and some gentlemen) meet once a month, share a meal and learn about the everyday battles of women in other countries. It could be AIDS, access to clean water, sustainable farming or the hazards of open-fire cooking.
"In other countries, women spend so much time looking for firewood, then they have open fires in their huts where they’re breathing in a lot of smoke," said Tami Savage, president and founder of the Dining for Women Northwest chapter. "They’re inefficiently using firewood. They’re depleting their forests."
To help with open-fire cooking problems, Dining for Women chapters supported women in Mexico and Africa so they could manufacture or even make their own clean-cooking stoves.
"(Volunteers) taught women in Africa how to make a two-holed stove out of mud," Savage said. "They then went to the other villages and taught other women how to make stoves."
Dining for Women chapters focus on programs in different countries every month. When they meet on the third Thursday of the month at a member's house, they view videos about the communities in need and donate funds — an average of $35 per person — toward the projects needed to help the women in those communities.
The Dining for Women grant selection committee receives countless applications from non-governmental organizations around the world. Committee members choose 12 for each year and the 600 national chapters support the selected programs. The programs range from educating girls and teaching women skills to developing markets for their products and fighting gender inequality.
The Northwest chapter has supported 60 women-centered programs since its inception five years ago. Savage said it's one of the most rewarding things she has ever done.
“When you want to make a difference in the world, you help women," Savage said. "Women in turn help their children and their communities, so you get a big bang for your buck."
The members of the local Dining for Women chapter are inviting the community to join them Wednesday for the organization's largest chapter meeting ever via live webcast. Chapters everywhere will tune in to the webcast to celebrate International Women's Day, which acknowledges the social, economic, cultural and political accomplishments of females.
"We wanted to throw it open and let the community know about it because really, Kootenai County is big enough to have a lot more than one chapter,” Savage said. "It’s just getting the word out and letting people know this is what we do and what we are. And I don’t think anyone joins the group that isn’t excited. It's a wonderful chance to really make a huge difference in women’s lives all over the world."
"It's a wonderful opportunity to get more members for our chapter and see if we can get more chapters started," said Dining for Women Northwest publicity chair Nancy Kramer. "There's very little overhead and it's all volunteer."
Info: www.diningforwomen.org
INFOBOX: Dining for Women will host an event in celebration of International Women’s Day at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday in the community room of Coeur d’Alene Fire Station 3, 1500 N. 15th St. The Northwest chapter has about 60 members who donate an average of $35 each month to bring about positive change in women’s lives around the world. To get involved or for info, contact Tami Savage at 755-1630 or [email protected] or contact Nancy Kramer at 808-937-8772 or [email protected].