Susan McGee has lived in Florida for the past 44 years. She is a retired special education teacher, and her husband is former military, so they moved around a lot over the years. When they settled in Florida, Susan became a guardian ad litem and volunteered with the Girl Scouts. Florida is also where she learned about Together Women Rise and helped form the FL, Gainesville–1 chapter. She is now a chapter leader of the spin-off, FL, Gainesville–2 chapter.  

Kia: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you learn about Together Women Rise? 

Susan: One of my friends here in Gainesville, Cindy Campbell, came back from a trip to her home in Colorado Springs one day after she attended a Together Women Rise meeting there. She was so excited that she called up five of her friends (I was one of them) to tell us about this organization and that’s kind of how we started. This was about 15 years ago.  

Kia: What inspired you to join and stay committed for so many years?  

Susan: Well, we all love the idea of helping women and girls around the world, especially considering how big the need is. It also really opened our eyes to what women and girls are experiencing. I’m sitting in my house with electricity and running water. It helps put things in perspective. The other part of why we like our chapter so much is the camaraderie. It has introduced me to so many people I never would have met otherwise. We all have the same values. We all have the feeling that “we can do more.”  Originally it was the concept of donating what you would have paid eating out for dinner, now we give more than that. I love the way that it has grown.  

Kia: But now you are a chapter leader of a different chapter, Gainesville–2. Can you explain how that happened? 

Susan: Over the years, our Gainesville-1 chapter continued to grow. We kept pulling in different people. Our members would talk about the group with their friends and invite them to join. Cindy and I eventually were overwhelmed with the number of members we had and worried that we could no longer host that many people in our homes. Only a few houses could hold that many people. We thought it made sense for our chapter to split. We brought up the idea to the group and asked everyone to choose which chapter they wanted to go with. It was almost an even split. Everyone worked so cooperatively. Both chapters are still very stable. We aren’t growing as much, but we do still get new members from time to time.  

Kia: What has it been like, becoming a chapter leader? How do you manage the responsibilities? 

Susan: I was not a chapter leader in the Gainesville–1 chapter, but I did a lot of the paperwork. I did a spreadsheet to organize the programs for the 12 months, created a signup sheet for hosting and presenting. It was pretty easy. For Gainesville–2, I have had a lot of help. For example, my co-leader passed away a few years ago, and a neighbor who joined the group around that time volunteered to take over those duties, mostly handling the money. In January of this year, I mentioned that I was busy with personal stuff, and one of the gals who also is involved in a Spokane, Washington chapter, picked it up right away and is now sending out meeting reminders so I don’t have to. I still create a list for presenting and hosting. It’s very easy to divide it up. Gainesville-1 does things differently. They switch leaders every two years. The person who is leaving mentors the incoming leader.  

Our members do a lot of the work before we meet. They learn about the grantee and read the materials. I don’t find it a burden at all. I just let everyone know what the needs are. We are so supportive of each other. We are more than just a group supporting our grantees, we support each other as well. I think that is just typical of women. Almost all our members are retired as well. We find it very relaxing to get together and really discuss these issues. Last night’s presentation was wonderful. The woman who presented had details that were not just on the website, but she did a deep dive, and it was so interesting.  

Kia: Since your chapter is a spin-off of the FL, Gainesville–1 chapter, you continue to stay in touch with those members, correct?  

Susan: Yes. Normally we meet twice a year for a picnic. We don’t do a presentation at those meetings; it’s mostly about socializing and talking about what our chapters are doing. We even met during COVID. We brought chairs to the park, and everyone sat around in a big circle. We talk about what is working and what we are doing. This past March, we were invited to a lunch with the Cedar Key, FL chapter. It was on the water. It is about an hour from here, so it wasn’t too difficult to get to. That was a really fun event. One of our members spends a lot of time in Cedar Key, so she knew Rise members there and put us in touch. We have a few members who are part of multiple chapters — one in Colorado, one in Washington, for example. That doesn’t seem typical, but it was cool. These multi-chapter meet ups are really fun and really low stakes. It’s a great place to meet people and connect.  

Kia: Who plans the picnics between FL, Gainesville-1 and FL, Gainesville-2? 

Susan: It’s kind of between the leader of Gainesville-1 and me. Usually, we do it in March and October. I throw out a potential date to our group via email and get a bunch of responses back. Sometimes we still meet to do a presentation with just my chapter, because we are so interested in the grantees, but the picnic is just for socializing. We have between 15-20 people at the picnics, usually evenly split from each group. A couple of our people like that because we usually meet earlier in the day for the picnic, whereas chapter meetings are in the evenings.  

Kia: What have you learned from these other chapters? 

Susan: It was delightful to meet the Cedar Key chapter in March. That chapter doesn’t meet during the summer. That is quite common in Florida because a lot of those people are snowbirds who come down for the winter from the Carolinas or New York. The group from Washington state, I don’t know too much about them, but one of our newest members spends a lot of time there. She tells us that her chapter out there always meets at the same person’s house. We go to different homes every month. Our hosts also don’t have to make a dish, that’s the benefit of hosting, but that is not how they do things in the Washington chapter. So, it’s interesting to see how people organize their meetings.  

Kia: What is one piece of advice you have for our other chapter leaders? 

Susan: I feel like some chapters are making it harder than it is. It should be an enjoyable time, not burdensome. Put aside a donation each month, prepare a dish, it doesn’t have to be fancy. We never plan what we are going to bring, and for our meeting last night everyone brought a salad! Not everything needs to be perfect. Nine desserts? Okay, dessert night! Put the coffee pot on! The website provides you with such a good framework, you really don’t need more than that. There is more you can do, the recipes are great. One of our members’ husbands loves to cook the recipes, and that’s so sweet. But it’s really about coming together over a shared purpose.  

If you are interested in being featured on “A Rising Tide” or have a recommendation for a chapter or chapter leader to feature, please email Kia Hunter, our Volunteer Manager, at kia@togetherwomenrise.org.