(Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters)

Palm Springs, CA

Like many others who moved to Palm Springs around the time Covid-19 began to sweep the nation, Mary Miller, who relocated from Long Beach in November 2019, wanted to make personal connections. She and her husband met great neighbors in the Canyon Estates community where they took up residence, however, it was important for Mary to expand her social circle beyond her immediate surroundings. She saw an opportunity to create new memories by taking part in fun activities with female friends ready to socialize across Palm Springs.

It was June 2021 when Mary Miller took action and put a post on NextDoor asking if any other women on the social media app had an interest to get together with other women to do social events.

The response she received was enormous. Her new group named the Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters quickly grew to over 100 members. In fact, the group grew so fast that invites had to be moved from NextDoor to Meetup to better accommodate the amount of RSVP’s coming in.

The Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters fulfilled a need, and their membership is currently at over 350 women and growing.

The purpose of the Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters is to enable and facilitate female friendships while supporting locally owned businesses. It helps women more easily get together regardless of relationship status or sexual orientation. The social group of women do everything from morning coffee events to brunches, lunches, and dinners. They do happy hours, wine tastings, art and cooking classes, bike and fitness events, and much more.

What started off as a goal for Mary to organize 8 events a month herself, turned into 30 events a month during high season and up to 20 events a month during the summer. Additional women now coordinate events, bringing new ideas, energy, and life into the organization.

The majority of its members live in Palm Springs. However, there are quite a few members who live in Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, and Palm Desert and a few more members from Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Indio.

And, the Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters has not just stopped at events. As the group has helped to enrich Mary and her fellow Sunshine Sister’s lives, they have also helped enrich the life of others as well through local charity work.

The group through its members have donated two truckloads of goods including hygiene and houseware items to Martha’s Village, which helps those experiencing homelessness or who are in the process of moving into transitional housing. They’ve raised over $5,000 for a silent auction in partnership with the Humane Society of the Desert. Members have also helped support a Breast Cancer Awareness Event at El Paseo and have donated items and gifts to Shelter From The Storm, an organization in Palm Desert supporting those who have survived domestic violence. All in all, the Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters have contributed over $25K worth of cash, gift cards, and goods to support these charities.

It has been said that “that having positive social interactions is central to good mental and physical health.” It seems that the Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters can help achieve these benefits for women across Palm Springs and beyond.

If you have interest in attending an event organized by the Palm Springs Sunshine Sisters, please click on their meetup page here.