52 Dinners

Ronda Giangreco didn’t set out to make a change in the world but that is undoubtedly what she will succeed in doing. A little over a year ago, Ronda embarked on what many people – herself and her husband, Michael included – considered a crazy quest. The idea? To hold 52 consecutive dinner parties, one each Sunday for an entire year. Crazy? You betcha. Fun? Ditto. Life changing? Absolutely.

What precipitated this brash self-imposed challenge was no less life changing. A medical emergency that was initially thought to be a stroke turned out to be much more devastating when Ronda was diagnosed with late onset Multiple Sclerosis.

“We just couldn’t wrap our heads around it,” said Ronda who explained that her husband’s mother had also suffered from MS, dying from it when Michael was just 16. “She had it his whole life. It was just a cruel twist of fate for me to be diagnosed with the same disease.”

Another incomprehensible blow – being told she might not continue to walk throughout 2010 – forced Ronda into action and 52 Dinners was born. Having recently relocated to Sonoma from Auburn, the couple was looking to meet people in the community. Ronda had always loved to cook, having taken cooking classes in Italy on two separate vacations. She mulled around these ideas and combined them with Michael’s happy memories of Sunday dinners at his grandmother’s house – a bright spot in his childhood with his own sick mother.

“I said to Michael, ‘What if we do Sunday dinner every week for a year?’ Of course he thought I was crazy and I wasn’t sure I could do even three weeks or ten weeks, let alone less 52. But I triumphed. Each week that came and went was another notch in the gun belt.”

At first Ronda invited people she knew but quickly, word spread and an email list was created that included many more potential guests. The first six people to RSVP to the invitation got the coveted spots. By year’s end, Ronda and Michael had entertained a total of 120 guests in their Sonoma Valley home, never missing a Sunday dinner.

Guests included friends and neighbors as well as random acquaintances like people met in the grocery store or at events. One guest, a recently windowed woman hadn’t been socializing until Ronda says she practically begged her to attend. She was present at several dinners that year and sent a beautiful letter detailing how the companionship, camaraderie and positive spirit made a huge difference in her life.

Another diner, also recently widowed, inadvertently arrived without RSVPing but was welcomed nonetheless. Upon leaving, he heartbreakingly told how he hadn’t left the house since his wife’s death several weeks earlier, saying that he couldn’t have imagined a better place to venture out.

“What we realized was that something we had started to boost our spirits and give us something to look forward to ended up being much more than that. Not only was it important to us, but it became important to others in the community,” said Ronda.

So important in fact, that Ronda is now writing a book about her experience. Thanks to a guest who alerted a writer at the Press Democrat (who attended the final dinner and wrote a subsequent story), Ronda was “discovered” by a literary agent and is in the process of writing a book called The Gathering Table. She is getting very positive responses from publishers.
“This little social experiment has completely changed our lives. I never thought I’d make it through all 52 dinners much less write a book,” said Ronda. “But what’s more amazing are the people who have been inspired by the idea.”

Indeed, Ronda gets scores of emails asking for entertaining tips, recipes and more and has started a monthly newsletter to keep hew new friends in the loop. “People who have felt disconnected from their communities and neighbors are being inspired to reach out and try something new. We feel like we sparked a small movement, helping people to put down the cell phone and get off the computer and connect with one another instead.”

If you’re interested in learning more or receiving Ronda’s newsletter, also called “The Gathering Table,” email her at rgngreco@hotmail.com.

And as far as her MS is concerned, Ronda is in remission now but says it’s a day-to-day process. “Today is a good day.” Maybe it’s time to invite someone to dinner?

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