By Julia Train
Walk into the Point Diner on a Thursday morning, and you’ll see several tables filled. A few of them are occupied by breakfast clubs, groups of people who meet regularly to socialize over a meal.
Dan Myers started one about two months ago for men who are in their late 60s or 70s.
Myers, who’s married with kids and grandchildren, has a deep-rooted family life and loves his family, but thinks men need to fulfill their social circle outside of that as well.
“In general, the average American male is somewhat isolated and somewhat deprived of a social network…even if you’re involved in politics, clubs, or various activities,” he said. “If you’re not actively trying to improve your attitude toward other people and your relationships with people in general, you’re not moving your life along. That’s just my basic philosophy.”
Myers has lived in Somers Point for about 45 years, which is the longest he’s lived somewhere after being raised in a preacher’s family that moved about every three years.
“You would think when you’re raised in a preacher’s family you’d get good at making friends, but it’s a double-edged sword,” he said. He would always keep in the back of his mind that any friends he made were temporary because he’d be moving soon.
Myers always loved learning and growing. He taught himself Photoshop and photography and is involved in multiple councils and organizations in the area.
Before he was able to actually create the “club”, he made a list of men he knew from commissions, councils or organizations that he wanted to get to know on a personal level. He then emailed those select individuals and didn’t define the meeting as a club; he aimed to keep it casual.
Although he reached out to men, he doesn’t exclude women. He told his friends that they could invite their wives if they wished.
“I’ve always worn a lot of hats and it just seemed like a natural extension for me to wear this new hat now that I’m retired, but still very involved in other activities. You know, to kind of make that next step to deepen my friendships and deepen my social network.”
Some days it’s two or three of them, others it’s all six, but Myers shows up consistently to make sure the club stays intact.
He doesn’t want it to grow too big, but if it does expand, he wants it to happen organically and wants people to come because they actually want to.
“It’s nice to have it small because then one conversation, everybody can join that. But if you get seven [or] eight people now there’s two or three conversations going on and it doesn’t have the same feel,” Myers said. “So hopefully it just stays small. If we get six regular people there, that would be perfect, but I don’t really want to get more than that.”
Julia is a student at Rider University, majoring in multiplatform journalism with a minor in social media strategies. At school, she writes and copy edits for The Rider News and is the News Director for the radio station, producing news updates. She’ll be graduating in the spring. Connect with her on Instagram @juliatrain
