gratitude c/o Meetup.com
A great e-mail that was sent from the CEO of Meetup.com!
I signed up for Meetup over a year ago, with one simple goal .. just to meet new people and expand my social horizons. Over the past year, I have attended a couple of meetups and have loved each one even more than the previous… being able to use the internet for face-to-face connections with those that you have a lot in common or even a little has been so inspiring.
Reading this e-mail made my heart that much warmer and made me appreciate the site that I have been apart of, the opportunities that we’ve all been given and the life that was spared on that fateful, tragic and heart wrenching morning.
It’s crazy how things can change so quickly in the blink of an eye, and that our emotions and strong burning love that dwells within… can connect us everyday if we choose to exhaust it… regardless of colour, creed, income etc.
Choose LOVE, today tomorrow and forever .. if not for yourself, for the 2,976 wonderful, talented, enriched and beautiful souls who lost their lives that day.
–
Fellow Meetuppers,
I don’t write to our whole community often, but this week is
special because it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many
people don’t know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.
Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles
from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought
local community doesn’t matter much if we’ve got the internet
and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I
hoped they wouldn’t bother me.
When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors
in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to
neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally
ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each
other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being
neighborly.
A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring
people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was
born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and
grow local communities?
We didn’t know if it would work. Most people thought it was a
crazy idea — especially because terrorism is designed to make
people distrust one another.
A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months
after 9/11.
Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it’s
working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups,
Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups… a wild variety of
100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common — except one
thing.
Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to
neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me.
They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and
motivate each other, they babysit each other’s kids and find
other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace
together. They make friends and form a powerful community. It’s
powerful stuff.
It’s a wonderful revolution in a local community, and it’s thanks
to everyone who shows up.
Meetups aren’t about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it
weren’t for 9/11.
9/11 didn’t make us too scared to go outside or talk to
strangers. 9/11 didn’t rip us apart. No, we’re building a new
community together!!!!
The towers fell, but we rise up. And we’re just getting started
with these Meetups.
Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)
Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
New York City
September 2011
Meetup, PO Box 4668 #37895
New York, New York 10163-4668
–
Lest we ever forget,
SHAN
