Our chapter started earlier this year with a vision of one person, Rachel Calvo. She has always had a love to met new women and enjoys their company. She had been looking for a chapter to join for about six months and could not find any openings.

One particular day she attended a fashion show lunch at the Oasis Club in Palm Desert California. During lunch, Rachel was sharing her thoughts about joining a Red Hat Group but could not find an opening. Sitting next to her was her friend, Gloria Gillard who immediately responded… “lets create our own Red Hat group”. She then announced at our table “who would like to join a Red Hat Group.

There was little response, and it was uncomfortable. Then Gloria grabbed Rachel’s hand and brought her to another table and said the same thing. Immediately hands went flying up in the air. Rachel was so excited she started to write names down on a paper napkin. Then Rachel said pass the word around that their would be a meeting at Rachel’s house a week from today.

Believe it or not we had 18 women at her house for the first meeting. Everyone was so very excited! We had a short business sort of meeting. Linda Manning brought with her a friend, Rita Hunter who is already a Red Hat.

Rita came dressed in purple and red and looked terrific with her big beautiful Boa. Rita answered all our questions and shared in our enthusiasm. Phone calls started coming in and we accepted two more women and we are now full with 20 women. This was the beginning of the Diamonds of the Desert Chapter in Palm Desert.

We are new and still getting our feet wet. We are open to your thoughts and suggestions. We are extremely excited to see all the ladies who want to participate and look forward to exciting gatherings and adventures!