On Saturday, the 28th of September, a small band of 3 folks in Ohio put together the First Annual Thrivers’ Cookout! We decided that since healing really does happen in community, it was high time we had some fun together! No therapy, no telling our stories, just good food, great company and a little music. We invited all of the alumni we had on the mailing lists of Taking Back Ourselves and MenHealing. (If YOU live in Ohio and are an alumnus and did not get an invitation, you might want to be sure that TBO or MH has your correct email address. Sadly we did learn that a few folks had not gotten the invitation.)
We planned well, dividing the rather minimal tasks into reasonable undertakings for all 3 of us, but because Murphy’s law is, well, Murphy’s law, with 3 months of NO rain in Ohio, the metro parks began prohibiting grilling or open fires several days before our event!! Practicing our resilience, we punted! We revised our plans and remained determined to have a gathering of like-minded friends and family.
And because Murphy’s law is, well, Murphy’s law, our event was on one of the days that hurricane Helene finally graced us with some rain! There were still no fires allowed but we had new plans and crossed our fingers and waited for folks to arrive.
And they did.
It was wonderful. People came in the drizzle. Food arrived, folks brought things for the silent auction (even an original work of art from one of the kids who came!); people bought tickets for the 50/50 raffle, and the musicians came with their guitars. Our youngest attendee was 3 years old, and made several song requests for the sing along, including Itsy Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald, which we enthusiastically participated in.
We raised a total of 249.00 to be divided between Taking Back Ourselves and MenHealing.
So: Mission Accomplished! We will be planning the Second Thrivers Cookout for next year and we would like to encourage you to give this a try in your community. It gives everyone a chance to re-connect and in some cases, to connect for the first time. We were all aware of our common ground, which provided a sense of ease and connection. No need to be on edge, no need to hide.
Our little team of 3 is going to create a template for how we did this, how we kept the cost low, the things that worked well and what we might do differently next time. We want to make this template available to anyone who thinks this sounds like a great idea, and would like to organize a similar event.
With love,
Scott, Lee, and Sandi