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What we’re about

**Please read carefully, as we are volunteer-run and personal reminders to read and follow instructions will delay your application!*

HOW TO JOIN 
In order to view and attend events, you must complete the following steps.

  1. Complete the brief New Member Form. through which we vet that you are indeed who you say you are (widowed).
  2. Create a free Meetup.com account
  3. Click the red "Request to Join" button on this page.

Your admission will be delayed until you properly complete Steps # 1, 2 and 3. You will also not be admitted unless you: 1) complete the new member form, 2) create a free Meetup account and 3) hit the red "Request to Join" button on this page.

We will review the forms in accordance with our membership guidelines. Without completing these steps, you cannot be reviewed for membership in the group.

YOUR CONTRIBUTION
As a volunteer-run, completely member-driven community group:

  • We request a $10 contribution from each new member to help cover our Meetup.com subscription. You can pay upon arrival or take a 2-month trial. [Online methods of payment include Zelle and PayPal (clubwidseattle@gmail.com) or Venmo (@clubwid). If you pay via Stripe, Meetup will take a cut.
  • All other events are usually Dutch treat.
  • Many of our members organize informal meetups and get-togethers in-between official ones. These are always welcome and encouraged!
  • We encourage you to come to an event as soon as you can, so you can join our community on the BAND app. That's where we're all hanging out! See below for more information about BAND.

WHO WE ARE

Club Wid is a social club of young widowed people (born after 1965) in Seattle/Bellevue, WA. Because we lost our partners to death, you could say we're a community built around the worst reason to make new friends. Through fun monthly activities, conversation, sometimes dark humor and always love for our people, we're moving forward together after loss.

We are widowed people, Gen X and younger, integrating our grief into the lives we're rebuilding after the loss of partners we thought we would grow old with. Change after widowhood often includes secondary losses like shifting friendships. With that understanding, we offer an outlet for a place to go, things to do and people who "get" our situation and have similar lived experiences.

WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE NOT

  • We are a social club for widowed people born after 1965.
  • Because we are a social club, we are NOT a grief support group.
  • We are not a club for people to join with the intention of finding dating partners.
  • This local meetup group is for people who are past the acute stages of grief (at least 12 months). Acute grief is a natural and instinctive path that, when taken, often leads to healthier outcomes. However, it can include symptoms that we fellow wids are not equipped to manage in a social club, such as separation distress; traumatic distress; guilt, remorse, and regrets; social withdrawal; and sometimes, symptoms similar to those of depression.
  • As such, membership is only for people who lost their partner more than 12 months ago. We know from our own cumulative experience that there is no “timeline” for grief. However, the first year is not like the times that follow.

For those who are outside our target membership or within 12 months of your loss, please check out these other favorite Seattle area grief programs: The Healing Center; Widowed Information and Consultation Services; Providence Grief Support Services (and many others; this female-only social club, Modern Widows Club-Seattle may appeal to some).

WHAT WE DO 
Club Wid launched after a holiday meetup event in November 2021 at Flatstick Pub in Pioneer Square. It was intended to be a one-time event, but at the end, people looked around and said, "This was fun! We should do this again."

  • Events: We host gatherings such as mini-golf, ping pong, bar crawls, BBQs, film screenings, dining out, concerts, house parties, and so on. Most of our events are adult-centered, but there are occasional specified events that include children.
  • Give and take! We crowdsource our social lives, often individually volunteering or sharing our homes, hobbies and activity preferences. We are big enough that folks will have different preferences on type/timing/cost of activities, so proactive planning and coordination amongst individual members is the best way to make sure there are get-togethers that fit each individual set of preferences.
  • Regular conversations: We stay in touch between meetups on a members-only app called BAND, where we restrict to members who have attended at least one gathering in-person, as a safe space to stay in touch and plan to meet up again!
  • Within the BAND app: We often organize informal meetups/ events (i.e. events not listed on Meetup.com).
  • Members can post, pose questions, or chat, similar to other social media apps.
  • New members are invited to BAND at their request after attending an official Meetup.com event.

Please review these reminders:

  1. If you are outside of the “young widow” target population, we can suggest other widow social or support groups. Please see the list above.
  • If you are not past the “acute grief” phase (less than 12 months since your partner’s death), your application will be put on hold.

Members on the BAND app:

  • Only members of the Meetup.com Club Wid may join the BAND app, for private group messaging.
  • The BAND app is where we talk between monthly official meetups events and members organize other events. This is also a space for private questions, comments, and discussion. Therefore, we want to know the folks who join the space.
  • To join the BAND app, we require an in-person connection at one of our events or a coffee/online meeting for vetting. **You must attend an in-person event or meet-and-greet before your request to join on BAND is accepted.** Please RSVP so that we know to expect you!

Sorry you had reason to be here, but glad you found us. We hope you find friends, hope, and healing in our community.