Hudson Valley Potluck

In a potluck, everyone brings a little something different. The job of creating the experience is shared and so made easier on everyone. And because all sorts of things are brought to the table, everyone gets out more than they put in. It’s a win-win situation in which the whole, through diversity and connection, is more than the sum of its parts. Whether you’re talking about food or anything else, when unique individuals come together to give life to each other through community, you’ve got a potluck.

These are some of the key ideas we can use to make things better for ourselves, our communities and the world. Inspired by the work of Daniel Quinn and many others, Hudson Valley Potluck is group of people in the Hudson Valley region of New York State who come together to discuss these kinds of ideas and to help each other put them into practice. What can you offer the potluck, and what can the potluck offer you?

History

Mark S. Meritt co-founded this local Ishmael group for the Hudson Valley region in July 2002, creating a Yahoo Group to help coordinate it. In September 2004, Mark was appointed the organizer of the Poughkeepsie Daniel Quinn Meetup group. They became two faces of a single integrated group. In May 2005, Meetup decided to charge all groups a fee to maintain activity. Due to a general lack of activity within the group, it was not deemed worthwhile to pay fees to keep the Meetup group going. Since then, the Meetup group has had no organizer and has remained in limbo, while Hudson Valley Potluck remains nominally in tact.

The group’s goings on have included:

• Northeast U.S. Daniel Quinn Meetup – Held Saturday, November 20, 2004, in Red Hook, NY