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By Lisa Kampeter

We ended the year the place we started, at the Grafton Dining Diva’s beautiful condo overlooking the river. Traditionally, the Divas Christmas is held at my house, but I was told: “you’ve had a lot going on this fall, so I’m hosting!” And I couldn’t say no.

Last January, we kicked off the year with a brunch, and in December, we ended the year with an Italian dinner kindly hosted by a Diva living across the river. A couple of Newcomer Divas were slightly alarmed by the haul to Grafton from their St. Charles homes, and with the ferries no longer operating for the season, there weren’t any shortcuts.

A couple of wrong turns and some bad directions sent the newest Diva all over, even up the hill to Aerie’s, the winery and restaurant high atop the bluffs in Grafton. Unbeknownst to her, unauthorized vehicles are no longer allowed up the hill. How do you typically get there if you want to go to the restaurant? An enclosed gondola or open-air chair lift!

Fortunately, a simple left turn would have saved her the embarrassment of trespassing onto the now inaccessible road. But an hour and a half later, she finally found us.

It was a traditional Divas Christmas evening. This year’s prized Rob Your Neighbor white elephant gift was a health kick theme with workout videos and five pounds of fat. We all caught the hint on that! A “pass-the-wrapped-holiday-towel” dice game caused a lot of confusion,  some cussing, and so much laughing you could even hear an “Oh my gosh, I’m going to pee!”

Another tradition was to bring a couple of dozen cookies to share. With our Tupperware containers in hand, we all collected enough for sampling throughout the holiday season.

Throughout the year, as we’re paying our bills at the restaurants in which we dine, we collect spare “change.”  In years past, the Dining Divas have adopted a family for Christmas or collected items for donation.

This year our focus was to support women and help combat “period poverty,” an indignity that thousands of women in St. Louis face on a regular basis. This issue keeps women from reaching their full potential. Poor menstrual hygiene can lead to many health risks. Plus, young girls often miss school to save themselves embarrassment. A lack of education often leads to child marriages, early pregnancies, malnourishment, and domestic violence. For more information, visit www.period.org.

So, in support of women in St. Louis, we collected 25 purses and bags and stuffed them full of feminine hygiene products. We provided purses for those women who may be homeless and may not have options for storing them anywhere. The items are going to agencies in our area that directly support people needing assistance.

We’re proud to support women and to help them reach their full potential. It’s been a challenging year for many of the Divas. Job transitions. Loss of loved ones. Health issues. It was so great to gather together one more time with this wonderful group of women and be reminded of all the positives that the holiday season brings to light. And for some, to be thankful that the year was over.

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