HOST A COMMUNITY EVENT

The goal of the clubhouse is to build community, to facilitate a wider range of activities for a more diverse membership, and to develop more year-round usage of our facilities.

The success of the clubhouse will be measured by how many people are engaged, and the diversity of that engagement in terms of people (e.g., demographics) and activities. We want activities not just for families with young kids, but also for seniors, teens, young couples, and more. And we want activities not just for swimmers, but also for artists, scientists, couch potatoes, and more. Everyone should find something to love here.

Any member can host a community event in the clubhouse. Non-members cannot host community events, though they can talk or present if invited by a member.

Members and their guests can attend community events in the clubhouse. The guest policy is up to eight guests per membership per month, at most four guests at a time. Note that “per membership” here refers to the family or household covered by the members, not each individual member. So a family of four might invite another family of four twice per month.

Residents who are not members may not attend community events as guests. We hope that residents who want to attend will join as fair-share members, an option not available to non-residents.

All activities in the clubhouse are subject to our guest policy. There are no exceptions. Please adhere to this policy, and consider mentioning it at the start of your event, as many may not be familiar with it.

Caleb (our pool manager) maintains a calendar of events that are scheduled at the pool, at the community room, and at the clubhouse. You can look at that calendar to find a good date/time for your event, then reach out to him to have him put it on the calendar. His email is info@greenmeadow.org, and Greenmeadow’s phone is 650-494-3157. Or you can submit your request on the Reservation Request form. 

You can reserve up to six months in advance. If scheduling becomes difficult, we will do some prioritization, such as reducing the frequency of less well-attended events or events that don’t add much diversity, or limiting the number of times any one member can reserve the clubhouse.

Please send an announcement of your community event to info@greenmeadow.org, and someone will send an email to all members and update the website. There is typically a 1-2 day delay for this. Please include:

• Title
• Date and time
• Description
• RSVP link if desired (helpful for estimating food/snacks if provided)
• Other important information (e.g., what to bring, what ages are appropriate, etc)

Please try to get your notice in 1-2 weeks prior to the event, if possible. If this is a recurring event, you can ask them to send reminders/updates for follow-ons.

You may also want to include a posting on Facebook or a notice in the Meadowlark. Contact social@greenmeadow.org to put a post on Facebook. A picture of some sort is useful for a Facebook post. To put a notice in the Meadowlark, contact meadowlark@greenmeadow.org. The newsletter is typically compiled at the end of each month and distributed in the first week of the next month.

Finally, consider putting up posters at the pool and/or clubhouse, or on the street notice boards. Please remember to take these down when your event is over.

Greenmeadow has a $10k annual budget for social events. We manage it carefully, prioritizing with our goals in mind (building an inclusive and diverse community that is engaged year-round). We encourage you to run your activity with low cost, but we understand that some activities may require budget, and we do not want hosts to be out-of-pocket. We also have a budget for refreshments if needed. If you have expenses for your event, please send your request to social@greenmeadow.org, and we will see if there is budget available. If your request is approved, we will let you know how to request reimbursement. You will need a receipt for each expense.

When your activity is over, we’d love to know how it goes. We can use that information to help other people who are hosting activities, to determine priority for budget and scheduling, and more. We think it will take a while for some activities to get off the ground, so don’t be discouraged if attendance is low the first few times.

Consider also writing a post on Facebook, or an article on Meadowlark, describing how the event went. Photos work well for these kinds of articles, so you might want to take a few during the event. To post to Facebook, contact social@greenmeadow.org. To write a Meadowlark article, contact meadowlark@greenmeadow.org.

You may need help operating the AV equipment or BBQs, or have other questions about facilities. Some documentation will be available, for example for the audio-visual equipment. For facilities questions or problems, please contact the Facilities Committee (facilities@greenmeadow.org) or the manager (info@greenmeadow.org), or call 650-494-3157.

We have gotten many ideas from you, all of which are listed below. Feel free to try out one of them, or try your own. If you aren’t sure about your idea, or you think someone else might be doing it, feel free to run it by the Social Committee (social@greenmeadow.org). But you can also just run with it and see how it goes.

List of Ideas
Movie night, possibly targeted for different ages (29)
Big game sports watching (21)
Sunday BBQ, BYO (20)
Cards/games sessions, think adult/classic games (19)
Rotating art display by GMCA/Greenmeadow artists (17)
Block-sponsored evening (15)
Book club (13)
Music performances by GMCA/Greenmeadow artists (12)
Mid-week dinner, provided for a fee (11)
Gaming sessions, think Magic or D&D
Mid-week soup night
Knitting circle
Rocket/science club
Daytime luncheon
Daytime crafts
Cocktail party
“Something charitable”
Saturday afternoon or evening BBQ
Resident talks, pechas kuchas (www.pechakucha.org), presentations by neighbors about expertise/travel/culture
Daytime coffee-klatsch
Informal activities from 9pm-midnight
Multi-cultural events (e.g., Holi, Chinese New Year)
Wellness meetups
Toastmasters
Discussions about civic issues, current affairs
Community yoga, maybe with fresh fruit and coffee and free 5-min massages
Group painting
Fortnite kids evening
Collectibles trading night
Poker night
Broadway sing night for seniors
Creative writing around a theme
Self-serve coffee shop or snack bar, so people can hang out
Cooking demonstrations, kids cooking class
Sing-along
Doggo-ween
Sunday brunch with jazz band and barista coffee
Sunday evening tailgate with classic cars
Meditation
Pickleball tournament
Holiday gift event
Set design workshop
Interviewing mindset workshop
Workshop on building math confidence in kids
Support group for parents of teens
Senior mixers
Octoberfest
Pinball machine supplied by local enthusiast?
MovieFests (i.e. marvel super hero movies shown before sequels + group tickets to shoreline)
Watching premiere of premium TV shows (i.e. last years shows running up to GoT season premiere)
Trivia nights!
Babysitting nights (for parents with younger kids)
Improv sessions (I could probably get a few good standup / improv people to volunteer to teach)
Christmas caroling