Christie Jenkins calls herself the “anti-Facebook.” In a world of scrolling and swiping, Jenkins founded Island Singles Activities Club as a kind of antidote to isolation in a chronically online culture. The club meets regularly to go out to dinner, attend a show or play pickleball. In February, Jenkins planned a Scottish Valentine's Day dance that was open to members and nonmembers alike.
This isn't the first time she has organized events for singles. Jenkins—who describes herself as a creative entrepreneur—has spent most of her career as a photographer of celebrities, athletes and more. She's photographed Christopher Reeve and Elizabeth Taylor, and is perhaps most famous for her 1980 book, “BUNS: A Woman Looks at Men's.” But Jenkins has ventured out of the photography world as well, producing a video designed to teach sign language to hearing people and, in upstate New York, founding an activity club for single people in the 1980s.
At the time, she was young, single and living in Cornwall—a woodsy area on the edge of the Hudson River. “I just thought, OK, if I'm gonna find people to do things with, I'm going to have to generate that,” she said. The club eventually attracted a list of 300 members.
Like Jenkins' club in New York, the Singles Activity Club on Bainbridge isn't a dating club, but a space for singles to build community on an island that tends to cater to families. “There's an element of shared experience that brings people together,” Jenkins said, of being single. She likened it to groups for new mothers. When she first posted about her idea for the Bainbridge group on Nextdoor, she got 18 phone calls in one week. The response was encouraging, but not necessarily surprising. A new group to try activities with can be a boon for someone who works remotely, isn't married or doesn't have kids in school.
“There's so much being written today about the loneliness of men,” Jenkins said. “I'm thrilled when I find out that these three guys in the club went out and got coffee together.” Indeed, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness an epidemic among people of all genders in 2023.
Less than a year old, Jenkins' club boasts more than 70 members. While membership tends to be fluid, with people coming and going, participants have ranged in age from 20s to 70s. Jenkins organizes about seven to eight activities per month, ranging from forest walks to pizza nights. Different members show up to each event, and if Jenkins organizes an event that she thinks might interest someone in particular, she'll send them a text reminder encouraging them to come. For some members, who preferred to be identified by their first names, the club has opened doors not just to new relationships, but to unexpected hobbies as well.
Anne, who lives off island but has attended several events with the club since the Valentine's Day dance, said that becoming an empty nester motivated her to start seeking new relationships. She tried dating apps, but quickly grew tired of them. “You are intrigued by the picture and whatever people write about themselves, and then you meet them and you know instantly that you don't click,” Anne said. “You spend a lot of time sitting on the couch scrolling… It's very inactive, which is not my way of wanting to be.”
Anne first learned about the club when she saw a flyer for the Valentine's Day dance. Since attending, she's taken up Scottish dancing regularly. The club also introduced her to pickleball, which she now plays with another club member.
Bryce, an artist and musician who also attended the dance, was surprised by how much he enjoyed it. “There was no alcohol at the event, which was terrifying at first,” he said. He enjoyed the event so much that he signed up for ballroom dance lessons. As serendipity would have it, the first dance class he attended led to meeting the person he is now dating. As a full-time painter, Bryce spends most of his time alone, in his studio.
“I just learned that I needed to get out of the house,” he said. “That's the overall message of the singles group. Get out of the house, meet people.”
For more information, contact Jenkins at skatingblonde@aol.com or 206-300-2289.
