The new ROMEO club in Carol Stream, Illinois is going great. (September 2023)
We have 6 to 10 men meeting every third Wednesday at 1 P.M.
A new change is the restaurant.
Chrissy's Bar and Grill
552 N Gary Ave.
Carol Stream, IL 60188
630-765-7131
We are having our first guest speaker from phil's friends on Wednesday, October 18th at 1 P.M. This non-profit helps minister to people who are currently going through cancer.
Attached a link: https://philsfriends.org/
Using Meet Up to start a local club in New York City Richard Heller is starting a NYC chapter: "as a recently retired attorney, I am starting a new chapter in New York City". To help get started, I’ve registered on Meet Up to schedule a ROMEO lunch in NYC. Anyone interested can contact me, rsheller1@gmail.com. Sounds like a good idea, has anyone else tried this?
New club starting in the Roanoke/Smith Mountain Lake area of Virginia: update, July 2023-The Smith Mountain Lake (SML) ROMEOs are meeting every other Thursday. We have a growing group of about 20 gentlemen. contact Mark Church wmarkchurch@ gmail.
From Don Myers, an interesting ROMEO Story: We have been meeting together for more than 20 years as a group of retired men. The main thrust of our get-togethers is to read “The Daily Bible in Chronological Order” in 15 minute daily average readings at home which results in reading through the entire Bible in one year. Some of our members have done that for many years. Then we meet every Tuesday from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at “The Breakroom” at 4131 South Shingle Road (#7) in Shingle Springs, CA to have lunch together and discuss and study what we have read during the past week. It has been very rewarding for us and we will continue doing that for as long as we‘re around. Of course, since we are all human beings, other topics find their way into our conversation such as family, sports, finances, politics, etc., but we do intend to continue with the Bible study.
Sometime ‘way back when’ we heard about the name R.O.M.E.O. from a friend who is no longer with us. We thought the name sounded catchy, so we adopted it not knowing that it was a real thing. We tell all of our friends about it and after they quit laughing they think it’s great. I recently Googled “R.O.M.E.O.” because I thought there might be something there and your website came up. Big surprise ! ! ! None of us had any idea. Will you allow us to register as a R.O.M.E.O. Club for real?
From Jack Butterworth: We have a ROMEO Club in Bristol TN\VA existing 23 years. We have 100 members with 20-30 dining each Wednesday. We have speakers occasionally and have toured many businesses in our area to learn about our community. We have no rules or requirements, only socialization. We contribute $5 voluntarily to pay for speaker meals. We have a personalized coffee cup for members and guests. If anyone is in our area on a Wednesday, come on to a meeting We meet in a different site weekly and communicate via email. Give us a call. Contact Jack at jbutter208@gmail.com or Archie Hubbard at ahubbard3rd@gmail.com
Special Event: The Pine Bluff Arkansas Club is celebrating two milestones: Their 20th anniversary in April 2023 and one of their members is turning 100! Read more about this club on the Heard Directly from Local Club page. They were also published in their local newspaper: “The FIVESOME is part of a widespread phenomenon known as ROMEO, for Retired Old Men Eating Out. The five men, retirees all, have been meeting for a weekly lunch for years. Their conversation tends to be "like a barbell," as one of them put it: "We talk about politics or new movies, University of Arkansas Athletics, what's happening now, and about what we saw and did a half-century ago — and nothing in between. “We laugh a lot." All except one graduated from U of A, and he graduated from Murray State in Kentucky.
"I wouldn't miss it," John H. Talbot commented. "I don't know any other two hours of my life when I'm so happy to be in the company of other people."
There are hundreds of self-proclaimed ROMEO groups across the country, some with a handful of members, some with as many as 80. They meet for lunch or for breakfast, weekly or monthly. They may form spontaneously because of members' common interests or associations, or they may be associated with religious groups, adult communities or senior centers.
There are no officers, by-laws, rules or regulations, dues, or attendance records. The meeting consists of good fellowship, good food, and sharing of recent events and some old and some new stories. A different restaurant is picked on a rotating basis by the members. Everyone orders from the regular menu and pays their own separate bill. The membership is by invitation and being retired is the only requirement.
O’ yes, you can see the Romeos eating out this Tuesday at the large table in the China Rose. We like the China Rose so much; we will be back this Tuesday. Janice personally knows all her customers, what they want to eat and what they drink. She is a remarkable person, and we will miss her. This was written by the youngest member of the club, the only septuagenarian in the club. He is 79.”
New club, ROMEO's of Smithtown, had their inaugural meeting on March 3, 2022. They are off to a great start.
Read about the Ocala Florida Club in the Heard Directly from Local Club Page and check out their photo in the Gallery. They have women in their group and are doing great things. Some interesting highlights: founded in 2006 with 4 members who meet at a supermarket deli and have grown to 50 people. Now they are a club of both and Men and Women Veterans. Our annual dues are 25 cents a year, payable after Death; (no pre-payment allowed). Our primary goal is to assist veterans to get V.A. eligible benefits. We participate in a Club Fair at On Top of the World (a 55 plus community). We encourage surrounding retirement communities to join us as well. Our membership is open to all.
All members of the Henderson Nevada ROMEO CLUB are fully vaccinated and have started meeting again, 3/20/2021. Saturday morning Breakfast together and 1st Thursday of the month Evening event with a theme. See "Heard Directly from Local Clubs" for details.
Check out the information from Peter Patrick under the "Heard Directly from Local Clubs" great ideas on how they run their local meetings (May 2021)
Our presence in a video on Loneliness continues to impress many people - help us reach out to combat this issue. Watch through this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&t=503&v=EidKI1Bdons&feature=youtu.be
Branford CT ROMEO Club starting their routine Thursday noon meetings again. May 20, 2021.
