Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: dinner guests

[lilbert (lilbert]

One more thing I'd like to add about our situation. We are located in an 
urban, working class area, and often our guests are from the neighborhood.
We feel it's an important part of our hospitality to not ask for money from
them, as we had to struggle to be accepted in the greater community and
there is a perception that we are wealthy. (In comparison, we are.) In fact,
we're probably one of the poorest cohousing communities, but apparently food
is cheaper here, since we have lower meal prices than most! No surprise
there, really, since the Central Valley of California feeds a large part of
the world. Maybe our members shop more frugally, many of them having to do
so for their families as well, who knows...

--
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California

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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> At
> Monterey Cohousing, we expect the hosts of friends, relatives, to pay for
their
> dinner guests (currently $2.50/adult).  We ask people coming to visit to check
> us out or just to see what we're about, to contribute the same. They seem to
> feel that is fine oand nominal.  From my point of view, I'd like people who
> call and say they'd like to come to dinner to contribute that small amount. I
> suppose there *are* semi-public ( I guess thatis what we are) places you can
> call and say I'd like to come to dinner, for free, but I can't think of any.
>
> It is also true that it varies, but we have a fair number of guests, and this
> helps keep our costs down.
>
> Judy