The Dinner Party

I don't often get a chance to talk about my personal world, but today, on #givingtuesday, I am so very proud and grateful to share about a cause incredibly close to my heart: The Dinner Party. In our day-to-day professional lives, already driven by so much passion and care for others, it is easy to gloss over the other deeply human experiences that we bring with us wherever we go, whatever we do. Some of the most incredible people I've had the pleasure of working alongside over the years have also experienced significant loss in their personal lives. If you have ever lost someone & hesitated to share (or didn't know how to share) about the reality of that loss, or if you've watched someone you love grieve & not know how to help at all, you can understand why a place like the Dinner Party is truly magic. Loss is inevitable, but how grief shows up in each of our lives is entirely unpredictable. When I was 19 years old, my father died suddenly one afternoon while we were all going about our day inside our family home. He suffered a massive heart attack at age 45, with no previous health or heart issues. My dad was my favorite human on earth and when he died, we all knew (without exaggeration) that he was the best of us all. Losing him felt like losing the best of ourselves. His death was not the first or last significant loss of my life, but it changed me and my family forever. Cue, Carla Fernandez and Lennon Flowers- the incredibly brilliant, kind, and fierce founders of The Dinner Party. Although I didn't meet them until five years after my dad's death, their vision to create a community for young grievers to boldly navigate life after loss, over shared plates and glasses of wine changed my life forever too. Now, as a member of TDPs first Community Advisory Board, I am on a mission to help sustain TDP and ensure that community tables stay open for years and years to come. TDP makes magic happen on a teeny tiny operating budget. Our constellation of $1s, $5s, $10s, and $100s helps thousands of people find support after loss. Each week, 40 people join the waitlist for a table in their community. If you're willing and able, I'd be honored to have you join me in supporting TDP. Investing in the Dinner Party is to invest in all the LIFE that surrounds death and to help grievers find a community that unapologetically welcomes the unique solitude of grief, offers understanding without explanation, and helps create a world where we can live fully alongside --and not in spite of --loss.  You can donate by giving directly at my donation page linked below and if you can’t donate, consider #reposting or following The Dinner Party to help us widen TDPs reach!

Today is Giving Tuesday! Celebrate by making a gift that matters. https://lnkd.in/eMDwMiiC Here is Hayden's Table, Breaking Bread in Brooklyn. We rely on your generosity to make these moments happen every day. Help us in our mission of connecting young adult grievers to a caring and supportive community of peers, transforming our most isolating experiences into the source of long-lasting companionship, personal meaning-making, and culture change. Every dollar will allow us to: 🌇 Expand our reach to new cities nationwide, connecting people struggling to find community and mental health support.  🪑 Hire more staff in 2025 to recruit and train new Hosts who help support thousands of people waiting to join Tables. 💻 Update our technology so we can improve our systems, data security, and provide better care for the many who are already here.

Renegade Grief is officially available for pre-order. Written by our cofounder Carla Fernandez, Renegade Grief is inspired by the gorgeous stories of creativity, friendship & care resounding through our community & celebrates the resistance to cultural pressure to go-it-alone in grief at the heart of every TDP table. If you’re in this community, you’re a renegade griever; this book is dedicated to, written for, & about you. It drops in March, but reserve a copy for yourself and your grief bestie here: https://lnkd.in/eVaQWqMz

One of our supporters is matching the next $20,000 that comes into our Summer Crowdfunding Campaign! There has never been a better time to help Expand the Table so that more grievers can pull up a chair to the peer support system they crave. Double your impact, donate today: https://lnkd.in/gHCjk38c More about what you’re supporting: With this campaign we’re focusing on addressing our growing waitlists, which represent thousands of grievers bravely seeking help. With your generous support, we’ll be able to meet them where they are by continuing to: Start Tables! Reaching our goal would allow us to recruit 250 new Hosts, helping connect hundreds of grievers on our waitlist who actively need peer-led support.  Support Affinity Tables! Train Hosts to begin new Affinity Tables around addiction loss, sibling loss, partner loss, and identities like LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, or Male grievers Offer more for folks while they wait! Starting more practitioner and peer-led events for folks to whet their appetite while they wait for a Table or get to know us including; Navigating Ancestral Anxiety and Grief with Somatic Chinese Medicine, public workshops on supporting grievers in the workplace, and more upcoming events. https://lnkd.in/gHCjk38c Thank you for your support!

Our workshops on grief in the workplace are happening every month this summer! Join us on June 26th, July 16, and August 1st for 90 minutes of learning alongside other people who want to show up for bereaved and grieving colleagues. More info and registration at https://lnkd.in/eUVv-54G

🎟️ Ready to make a difference for grievers at work? Join us this summer for a Workplace Resilience Training! Work can be overwhelming and isolating for those grieving, but it can also be a source of empowerment and stability. If you're passionate about creating a supportive and compassionate workplace, these trainings are for you! Being There in the Workplace Training (6/26 & 7/16): ✨ Practical language and real-life examples on how loss affects wellbeing ✨ Frameworks to understand grieving experiences, considering personal and positional perspectives ✨ Creative ideas to support grieving colleagues—and yourself! Managing Loss (8/1): 🔍 Dive deep into how grief impacts relationships, morale, and performance 🏢 Examine your organization's culture and support systems at various stages 🌱 Develop strategies for creating cultures of care and empowerment Don’t miss this opportunity to transform your workplace. Don’t miss this opportunity to transform your workplace into a sanctuary of support and understanding. Secure your spot now! Tickets available to all sessions at https://lnkd.in/eUVv-54G Bring us to work with you! Email us atwork@thedinnerparty.org  

Hungry for ways to put your skills to good use, meet cool people, and strengthen a movement turning grief from an experience of isolation into one of creativity and connection? Well good, because we have an exciting opportunity for you! We’re recruiting for a new kind of table: The TDP Community Advisory Table will be a small group of hand-selected advisors from within our network who will work closely with TDP staff and other volunteers to help strengthen and grow this meaningful community. Think of it like a volunteer nonprofit board committee — which it is! Applications are due by April 19th. https://lnkd.in/eKvm8U4N Join us around the table!