Tampa Community and Support Group for Widows

Our Mission for Widows

We serve to empower widows to lean into life, build resilience and make a positive difference in society.

Modern Widows Club is designed to create a safe and private environment for widows to lean into life together through the journey.

We are the club no one wants to be in because you only get in by virtue of experiencing a great loss. Yet what I hope you find once you’re here is that you’re surrounded by a community of really amazing women that you can lean on and learn from. We’re widows helping widows to live- to go upward and onward. Sometimes we cry and sometimes we laugh. We talk about how to tackle challenges without our partners’ help and cheer each other on. We often share food as we do this, because who doesn’t like to eat?

When a woman loses her loved one she tends to feel very alone. Regardless of her age or circumstances, she will benefit from other women in her life who understand the unique challenges she is now faced with. She needs women who will build her up and encourage her in this new life she walks. We are stronger together. No woman is an island. We need each other.

Meet Our Community Advocates

Pam K.

Hi, I’m Pam. As all of you are, I’m a widow, and this is a club no one wants admission to.

In 1991, not knowing a soul, I moved to Florida. I transferred from Kansas to the sunshine state for a job. Less than 2 months later, I met my husband Mike on a blind date. We were inseparable. We loved life and the outdoors. We were avid boaters, beach goers, skiers and travelers. Fast forward to October 15, 2018; Mike had a massive heart attack, the widowmaker that we hear so much about but never expecting it to happen to us. He was 56. To capture Mike’s essence is to always see and feel love, light and goodness. He was quick with a smile, a funny comment, and always lend a helping hand. He genuinely cared about everyone.

I had a full-time career in the advertising industry and had always volunteered my time with organizations that primarily helped women. Never realizing I was in training to help my fellow Wisters.

In 2020 I found MWC, but everything was being done virtually because of the pandemic. Things started opening up in 2021, and I went to the Orlando MWC Community get-together. Ax throwing of all things, which by the way, is very empowering! The love and acceptance I felt was overwhelming. I had felt lost and alone, not knowing how to navigate life. I learned of the WEE event taking place in September in Houston, which I booked right away.

Going to WEE was LIFE CHANGING! It was similar to tectonic plates shifting.

I knew then that I wanted to help and empower other women facing the hardest chapter of their lives, moving forward after losing their loved one.

I am eager to continue growing, sharing, and connecting with other Wisters, as this is not a solo journey. My hope is to support each widow find her unique path forward. I’m not saying it’s easy, but together we can make one commitment, and that’s the commitment to keep trying.

Lori P.

Hi, I’m Lori and I was born and raised in NYC but moved to Florida as a teen. I now live in a “small town” called Oldsmar nestled right between the big cities of Tampa and Clearwater! About 5 years ago, my husband of 30 years, Mike, died unexpectedly and suddenly of cancer that had gone undiagnosed until the last few weeks of his life. I was totally unprepared to lose my soulmate and to find myself, just shy of 53, living a life that looked nothing like what we had imagined and planned for.

Our children were in college, and we had recently sold the business we owned and ran together for 20 years, with an eye towards taking the first steps to retirement and enjoying the life we had worked so hard to build together. I suddenly found myself with a very empty nest and no real purpose to my life anymore. I have always been called a ‘strong woman’, but so many days I needed that strength just to get through the day, as so many of my Wisters will understand.

I participate in many online widow communities, and I am so thankful for the bonds I have forged with the women who are on the same journey because we see each other in a way most people can’t understand, and we know how to be there for each other. I started finding myself reaching out to ‘newer’ widows I was meeting online in hopes of giving them a little support and comfort as someone who has been where they are and survived it. I found that made me feel better, too. It has become a passion of mine, and I feel so fortunate to have met Pam K. and been offered the opportunity by the Modern Widows Club to team with her to support the widow community in the Tampa Bay area. This is becoming my purpose and my Hope of finding something good to come from something so bad and to put my strengths to better use than just surviving.

I am the mother of 2 amazing adult kids, ages 30 and 26. I currently work as the head of a Project Management department for a large environmental laboratory. I am a member of a cappella women’s singing group that entertains at senior centers in our community, and in my spare time, I love to read and watch hockey, baseball and tennis. I am inspired by the women I have met at MWC, and I look forward to sharing this journey with them.