'Truest form of your gingerness': UNC ginger club brings together Tar Heel redheads

In 2023, what started as a routine trip to Lenoir Dining Hall became the start of something quite unexpected for then-junior Austin Cook and then-sophomore Chloe Winchester. 

The two were previously friends, but that day they came upon a group of other students outside of the dining hall and started chatting with them. 

The common denominator? They all had red hair. 

Not only that, but they all went up to Lenoir and had a meal together, creating new, long-lasting friendships. 

Shortly after, they created an iMessage group chat which subsequently moved to GroupMe. Since 2023, Ginger Club has expanded to over 250 members, spreading through word of mouth and ranging from current UNC students and alumni to redheads off campus, and even internationally. Ginger Club is not a formal club, but an informal chat filled with members from different backgrounds all united by the common thread of their hair color. 

"The GroupMe is really used as a place for shared, relatable thoughts around being a ginger," Courtland Bartosik, a recent UNC graduate, said.

Members jokingly remind each other to wear their sunscreen on days with especially scorching weather among some other relatable experiences, Cook said. 

Cook said that they also occasionally have group dinners at Lenoir, and she has even hosted a “ginger party” where group members played Ed Sheeran songs, a nod to how redheads are often likened to the singer. 

She said that having a super laid-back group of people that might not know each other all that well, but can still bond over a common trait, helps ease the stress of socializing. 

"I think lowering the barriers to social engagement is so important,” she said. 

Within the group, some members share polls, leasing notices, favorite sunscreen brands, funny T-shirts, baby pictures and even game tickets. Winchester often advertises when her band is performing on the chat as well. 

"It's super light-hearted, and it's unserious, I would say," Winchester said. 

While it is much bigger than it once was, she said that it is great that so many people find joy in it while still remaining true to its unserious roots. 

Molly Barr, a rising senior, joined after meeting a member of the group at a friend's birthday party. Since becoming a part of the group, she also took the initiative of asking other redheads if they knew of Ginger Club and inviting them to the GroupMe. 

"I've created some pretty great friendships just through these fun little interactions," Barr said. "It's really an icebreaker, which is super cool."

Bartosik joined shortly after the group's inception after hearing about it from Cook. 

"It's a really exciting sense of community, and it's something so small as the color of your hair, but it really goes deeper than that," she said. 

For Barr, the GroupMe is special to her because though it may seem minor, it gives her a group of people to talk to who have many of the same shared experiences, she said. 

"We all kind of grow up with the same jokes that people make about our hair color," she said. "Like you don't have a soul, or you don't see the sun or you get compared to Ron Weasley or Rowley." 

Even after graduating, Bartosik continues to be a member of the chat and texts when she can. For her, the GroupMe provides a digital safe haven that she can always return to, especially in a time where she is facing lots of uncertainties after graduating. 

"If I was to send a message in the Ginger Club saying, 'Hey, a fellow ginger is looking for a recent grad to get lunch with', somebody would respond," Bartosik said. 

For her, the people in this group are incredibly caring and compassionate with great senses of humor, so she feels secure in the fact that she will always be connected to it, she said. 

Currently, Winchester is responsible for keeping the GroupMe running, though she said that the group chat is self-sufficient as many group members take initiative on their own. 

When asked about their ambitions for the GroupMe as it goes on, both Winchester and Cook hope for small things. 

"Selfishly, I have no real motivations for it other than I want people to find a community in the strangest places," Cook said.

Winchester said that it is important the group chat gets sent to upcoming first-years, so Ginger Club lives on. 

"If you're looking for a community to express the truest form of your ‘gingerness,’ then the UNC Ginger Club is for you," Barr said. "From occasional meet-ups to every day."

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com