A few months ago, Cate McClure of Lima Township came up with an idea to bring area women together and help raise money for local non-profit organizations.

Rather than spend $20 on a night out, area women would meet at one of their houses, bring a dish to pass, and donate the money they would have otherwise spent on dinner to a charitable cause.

A potluck dinner held on Sept. 23 kicked off the Michigan Women's Dinner Initiative and what McClure hopes will be a series of dinners. About 40 women gathered at her home to share food and raise money for Ann Arbor's Safe House Center, which helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

McClure said she was "thrilled with the support" the first dinner received, though she unfortunately had to work late and missed it. The dinner raised $1,275 for Safe House.

"Safe House couldn't have been a better first charity for us," said Dawn VanHoek, who filled in for McClure as hostess and helped organize the event. "We want to raise money for charities that we know and love, and have fun at the same time."

VanHoek said "there's no limit" as to how many dinners the group will have, and the plan is to have them at least quarterly.

"This could turn into picnics in the summer, bonfires in the winter," she said.

Barbara Niess May, Safe House executive director, spoke at the dinner, along with Safe House programs and services director Vickie Frederick-Toure.

Niess May talked about the history of Safe House and Frederick-Toure discussed the programs and services offered.

Frederick-Toure said domestic violence "goes across all groups — political, racial, income — it touches all of us." She said, every day, across the country, 165,000 people are "seeking services for domestic violence."

Lisa Pelosi, of Ann Arbor, brought quinoa fiesta salad to the dinner. She said the initiative is "a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the groups in Ann Arbor and also to meet new women."

"There's always groups of women that we meet with to have some mom time ... and this is a wonderful opportunity to combine that with a good cause," she said.

Diana Gomez-Hassan, of Ann Arbor, said the event "sounded like a fabulous idea."

"Instead of going out to a restaurant, this sounded like an even better idea," she said.

McClure said though she missed the dinner, she was pleased with the turn-out.

"From what everybody said, it went off exactly as we planned it," she said.

McClure said she would like to see another dinner happen before the end of the year. Anyone interested in hosting or attending a dinner — women and men alike — can send an email to McClure at womensdinnerinitiative@gmail.com or find the group on Facebook.

Heather Lockwood is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at heatherlockwood@annarbor.com or follow her on Twitter.