Celebrating Life Over 50 in the Puget Sound Region and Beyond

Speed Friending

May 17, 2023 at 11:38 a.m.

The Greenwood Senior Center is hosting its second "Speed Friending" event on Saturday, May 20. Masks are optional this time (they were required at the event last September).

Back by popular demand! This Saturday, May 20, from 10am to noon, Seattle’s Greenwood Senior Center is hosting its second Speed Friending event.

This event is designed for people between the ages of 50 to 65. A Speed Friending event for the 65+ crowd is scheduled for the fall.

If you are interested in meeting others in your community and making new friends, this might be the event for you. Speed Friending is a fun and fast-paced way to meet new people in a way that dissolves awkward social barriers.

Event organizer, Social Connection Project Coordinator Teresa Tam, says, “The last one was a lot of fun! We had 20 participants.”

The idea came from a community survey that was conducted as a joint effort between the GSC and a group of students from the UW. Tam has not heard of other senior centers in the area offering a similar event.

Speed Friending works like this: You'll meet different people for a short amount of time. We provide conversation starters, or you can use your own. You'll have a 'Friend Sheet' to indicate whether you'd like to pursue further contact with any of the people you have met. The facilitators will collect everyone's Friend Sheets at the end, and if there's a match between two people, will provide them with each other's contact information.

Tam commented: “Heart-warming stories continue to come out of the Speed Friending event held this past September. For example, one woman discovered during the event that three other people lived on North 72th street, close to her house on N. 70th. She invited them all to her house for a get together, also inviting a couple of other neighbors that she’d always wanted to get to know. Now they get together monthly, and they call themselves Club 72.”

The event is free, and refreshments will be provided.

If you are interested in learning more or to RSVP, contact Teresa Tam at 206-531-0061 or by email at teresa@phinneycenter.org..

Teresa Tam, the Greenwood Senior Center's Social Connect Project coordinator

The Greenwood Senior Center is located at 525 N. 85^th Street in Seattle. For more information about the Social Connection Project, visit https://www.phinneycenter.org/gsc/social-connection/.