The Chattanooga Newcomers Club is like a barbershop: Walk-ins are welcome.
Fueled by a 50-word blurb published weekly in Times Free Press community newspapers, the club for women boasts 138 members. The group, which members say has been in continuous operation for more than 40 years, incubated at the downtown YMCA.
According to the organization's website, there are 34 Newcomers Club chapters in Tennessee, spread from Bristol to Memphis.
Some say Chattanooga is an insular place, where newcomers -- especially if they're older -- have a hard time fitting in. Joining the Newcomers Club -- which, incidentally, isn't just for newcomers, but for any woman looking for a new group of friends -- is a way to level the playing field.
Patty Smith, a retired schoolteacher, moved to the city two years ago. At first, she found Chattanooga bewildering. The roads just seemed to meander. And for awhile, so did her life.
"I had retired after 40 years in teaching," she recalls. "I thought to myself: 'What am I going to do?' I'm not one to sit around and be idle."
But just like her car's navigation system helped her find her way around Chattanooga's crooked streets, the Newcomers Club hashelped her navigate as a stranger in an unfamiliar city, Smith said.
Smith says she called the telephone number in the newspaper and the president of the group, Barbara Walker, magically arrived at her front door one day to taxi her to a meeting.
Walker is a lifelong resident of the Chattanooga area, but says she joined the club as part of her recovery therapy after having heart bypass surgery in 2012.
"I wanted to form a new life for myself," Walker explained.
A typical month with the Newcomers Club goes something like this:
* The first Wednesday of the month there's book club.
* The second Wednesday of every month the club assembles at the Garden Plaza of Greenbriar Cove retirement community in Ooltewah for a luncheon.
* Week three is a wild card. Next Wednesday, for example, members will visit an antiques mall.
* Week four is coffee at a member's house -- the location rotates.
Smith said when she moved to Chattanooga to be nearer her adult son, she tried crocheting and knitting to pass time. She even joined a health club to find companionship, she said, but soon realized it's hard to have a conversation while you're walking on a treadmill.
Joining the Newcomers Club introduced her to activities that she might never have known about, she said. For example, she went with some of her Newcomers Club friends to see the Blue Man Group.
Who does that by themselves? Nobody.
"Chattanooga is great," Smith says. "You can enjoy the water. The restaurants are wonderful. I'm taking classes at Chattanooga State. It's a really diverse place."
If the Newcomers Club sounds like it might be down your alley, you can contact membership leader Mary Wilson at Mqwdiver9@msn.com.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/mkennedycolumnist.