I have been in a meet up group locally for several years. For a while it was run by a younger woman who then got engaged and was then busy planning her wedding so she stepped down on running the meet ups. The group was on meetup.com which made it easier for people to find. I there was quite a monthly expense to keep the meet profile active. So the person who took it over decided to look for a sponsor of the group. They did find a diabetic organization to fund the monthly fees that keep the meets up active and allows for further meet ups. The problem is that they have ruined the meet up group in many ways. They are constantly throwing the fundraising events for the group as a meet up we all should be going to. I volunteer when I want and don't feel that pushing it on people is appropriate either. They don't have very many meet ups that allow for interaction between the people in the meet up groups except for an occasional pot luck. I like pot lucks but the issue I have is that taking a service dog to another persons home is very difficult. I hate to impose but I am not willing to leave Duchess at home either. So I rarely ever get to attend the meet ups.
I always enjoyed the meet ups when I am able to attend but it is sad how a very well know diabetes non profit organization has really ruined the meet up group for all. I am thankful they took over the funding of the site but sad that they have pushed their agenda too much into the group. I know a great deal of the original people from the group rarely attend anymore. I wish we had found a different sponsor who is not as pushy with their agenda. I really never thought a group sponsoring would think they had rights to put all their events on the calendar but I should have guessed because they are a board member of this organization. I am not a fan of the organizer of this group because he has on occasion expressed his dislike of Duchess but what I think the real issue is that when you see someone with diabetic complications it is scary. I know because his daughter has it as well that I am sure that is scary but realizing that things happen is also part of life. I know I miss the days when I could attend events that were not centered around an organization but rather a meet up of a group of people of diabetes who want to hang out.
I always enjoyed the meet ups when I am able to attend but it is sad how a very well know diabetes non profit organization has really ruined the meet up group for all. I am thankful they took over the funding of the site but sad that they have pushed their agenda too much into the group. I know a great deal of the original people from the group rarely attend anymore. I wish we had found a different sponsor who is not as pushy with their agenda. I really never thought a group sponsoring would think they had rights to put all their events on the calendar but I should have guessed because they are a board member of this organization. I am not a fan of the organizer of this group because he has on occasion expressed his dislike of Duchess but what I think the real issue is that when you see someone with diabetic complications it is scary. I know because his daughter has it as well that I am sure that is scary but realizing that things happen is also part of life. I know I miss the days when I could attend events that were not centered around an organization but rather a meet up of a group of people of diabetes who want to hang out.
So strange hearing this. In my city there are many groups. Of the 2 local groups I belong to, neither costs a cent to keep active. One group meets at different restaurants for dinner and the other usually meets at a Panera for brunch. The invites are created using "FB events"... Perhaps there are others in your area that longs for a less formal meeting... See if you can locate the persons on FB and ask them?
ReplyDeleteAnn there was recently a FB set of a local meet up group but they are in the starting phase which is good. It is really strange how other cities have all these options but locally they seem not to have as much meet groups as other cities like Dallas or Houston.
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