All about the “Liberal Ladies”
By Joy Leeper
Liberal Ladies Who Lunch is a lively group that has now been thriving in Pittsburg for 12 years. It was started in 2011 by Susy Hammons. Susy and I had met in graduate counseling classes at PSU and become colleagues and friends, so I was there from the start. Nevertheless, I interviewed Susy this week to refresh my memories of the details.
Susy went to Austin Texas to visit a friend, and discovered there was a group with this name there – one of eight groups across Texas. In Austin they dress up and go to a fancy restaurant for lunch, so in the beginning our group met at the since departed Corner Bistro. While we enjoyed the food, we soon learned it was too distracting and noisy getting and eating it when what we really wanted to do was talk. So, we then moved to the library and made lunch a choice to “bring your own if you wish”. We decided to meet every other week on Wednesday at noon. We designed a business card and Susy would talk to women wherever she went, and hand out the card. Sometimes in the early days on a snowy day in winter or a scorching day in summer, only two or three people would show up, but over time the mailing list grew to about 50 people and now we consistently have at least about a dozen women.
What do we do? We mainly discuss local and national news. I must admit that during the Trump years we mainly bitched and moaned and vented our outrage and frustration. Sometimes it felt like that was the only way we got through it! We are always registering voters and visiting with our elected officials when they come to town. We often rally or march for a good cause. When election time rolls around, we work for all our Democratic candidates: volunteering, canvassing, phoning, stuffing envelopes, baking treats for events, etc. Whatever is needed to promote our ideals and candidates, we do what we can to help. In the summer we raise money for pool passes for needy children and at our Christmas party we collect items that Safehouse Crisis Center tells us they need.
We welcome women of all ages and abilities to join us – even an occasional man visits. We have no by-laws or dues. We found everyone was eager to talk at the same time so there is one rule now-- you raise your hand to talk. Come, bring your ideas and questions or just sit and listen and enjoy companionship with like-minded progressive women! We are currently meeting at the county Democatic office. For more information contact Susy at susyhammons@yahoo.com.
I was so inspired by these women that I wrote us a theme song: Wise Women You can find a video of the Multigenerational Women's Chorus singing it on YouTube. Just search for Wise Women by Joy Leeper.
Until you do that, here’s the chorus:
Don't you ever wonder
Who'll roar like Thunder
When times require we face the fire
Wise women will!
