Dear World Food Lover,

In the nearly five years since The Vietnamese Food Dining Out Group first sat down at two communal tables on Doyers St., we've grown to more than 1,200 world food lovers, and we've enjoyed many meals featuring food not only from Asia, but also Africa, Europe, and the Americas. (Sorry Australia, we've overlooked you; Antarctica, as always, you're on your own.) Although we've made it our practice that group members pay only for their food and drink, the logistics of managing such a large group demands that we ask for a modest contribution from you.

Beginning November 1, for your membership in The World Food Lover's Dining Out Group we request a monthly contribution of $1, via Amazon Payments. If you prefer, you may contribute for three months, or a full year, in advance, which slightly reduces Amazon's processing percentage; that is, more of your contribution actually goes to the group. (For a similar reason, we're not offering PayPal as an option; at this low dollar amount, the percentage that PayPal charges for processing is very high.) We'll use the proceeds from your contribution to pay for Meetup's monthly fee and for the other expenses of arranging events for the group. We also expect to have enough money that every so often, we can schedule and finance one larger event where as many members who would like to join us will be able to meet, mingle, and eat.

So we don't introduce another logistical burden, we will not be offering refunds of these monthly contributions; if you just want to give the World Food Lovers a try, it's better to contribute month by month, a dollar at a time. Rather than drop members from the group for being late with one month's contribution, every several months we will re-examine our rolls to see which members are up-to-date. However, to RSVP and attend one of our events (for events scheduled on or after November 1), you must be current with your membership contributions.

As they say on TV, send no money now; we're finalizing some details on the World Food Lovers site, and we'll send you another email toward the end of October when everything is ready.

I hope you'll agree with me that for the opportunity to break bread (or twist noodles) with your fellow World Food Lovers, this modest monthly contribution is a bargain. We look forward to seeing you soon. Best,

Dave Cook, Organizer
The World Food Lover's Dining Out Group