(By Whitney Walsh)

A few months ago, I organized my first Servas meetup. Honestly, I did it partly for selfish reasons — I hadn't been very involved in Servas and wanted to meet people who knew more about it than I did. So I went to the website, pulled the email addresses of members within 75 miles of my hometown of Temecula, California, and sent out an invitation.

Temecula's big draw is our wine country — over 30 wineries dot the hills here — so I picked one I love and sent out an Evite. I had no idea how it would go, but I was delightfully surprised. About a dozen people showed up, some from nearby towns, others from as far as Los Angeles and Palm Springs. It was lovely to meet like-minded fellow travelers, and we all enjoyed the wine.

Two members even brought friends along, and I later learned at least one of those friends has since become a new Servas member.

Taking the Show on the Road

It seemed like such a great way to meet people that I decided to do it again. When we met in Temecula, a number of people said they would have loved to come, but it was just too far. So, I decided to hold the next one in a different location.

I'd met Fran Donovan at that first meetup and asked her to suggest a venue in her hometown of Carlsbad, about an hour away from Temecula. She suggested the perfect spot — charming, casual, and happy to let us take up a table for a couple of hours. (Of course, we also enjoyed the house food and beer.)

The Momentum Continues in Carlsbad

Last weekend, about a dozen Servas members and guests gathered in Carlsbad. Growing membership wasn't really the goal of these meetups, but two guests told us on the spot that they wanted to join.

Since many of us hadn't met before, we wore name tags to help everyone connect. Our waitress noticed and asked why. I explained that we were part of a group called Servas and shared a bit about what we do. She seemed genuinely curious, so I handed her a flyer that Lisa Aiken had created and shared at the national conference in Minneapolis. She told us she was going to look into joining! [Editor’s note: Promotional materials can be downloaded by logging into your USservas.org account and going to the Member Toolkit link under the Members tab.]

A big shoutout to Bistro Kabob in Carlsbad for hosting us. If you're ever in town, reach out to a SoCal Servas member — we'd love to join you there for a delicious meal.

Where To Next?

I'm already thinking about the next one. So, if you're in Southern California, let me know if you have any suggestions for where we should meet!