Gathering for Women helps homeless women across county.

Every Tuesday more than 100 women from all walks of life come together for food and conversation. Of the attendees, roughly 25 are volunteers and the remainder are women who find themselves homeless on the Monterey Peninsula. Gathering for Women, a nonprofit started in April 2014, gives a sense of community to women who often feel isolated and disconnected.

“Many are older women who have been priced out of their homes,” says Carol Greenwald, president and co-founder of Gathering for Women. “It’s often a choice between paying rent or eating.”

Many homeless women on the Monterey Peninsula are seniors who have been homemakers dependent on their spouses for income, Greenwald says.

Fifty-two is the median age of women who come to lunch at the Moose Lodge in Del Rey Oaks; more than 25 percent are over 65 years old. The oldest client is 90.

“I met one woman who had once worked in a secretarial position at the Monterey Police Department,” says 72-year-old Monterey resident Linda Frederiksen, who volunteers in the kitchen once a month. “Her medical bills ran up and she lost her home. This is my neighbor, this is someone in my community. It could be me.”

Since Gathering for Women’s inception, the group has connected with more than 500 homeless women. About half of those live outside, and the other half live in their cars, Greenwald says.

The Fish Hopper of Cannery Row, the Old Fisherman’s Grotto of Fisherman’s Wharf and First Awakenings of Oldtown Salinas all provide a meals to feed 100 people one Tuesday per month. There are also foot massages, child care, clothing and a food pantry. Volunteers connect homeless women with other resources in the community.

But most importantly, Greenwald says, women see that they’re not alone.

Gathering for Women will move locations Dec. 1 to the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Peninsula in Carmel. Gathering for Women already has $18,000 in challenge gifts through the Gives! campaign and hopes to raise more than $50,000, says Leslie Sonne, volunteer and retired Monterey police lieutenant. The hope is to someday provide support on a daily basis.

“We provide a conduit to resources and also a sense of belonging,” Sonne says. “It’s an incredible feeling seeing how women truly look forward to Tuesdays.”