Let's raise $1000 for my 30th birthday!

Beautiful babes! Last year for my birthday we gathered on Zoom for a dance party (see your shining faces above). It was truly the best way to turn 29, and I'm so grateful for all of you.

This year I'm turning THIRTY 🥳and I'd love to celebrate with you, but I think we're all pretty zoom-ed out...

So HOW ABOUT A VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER INSTEAD?? 

I know, I know, it's maybe not the most glamorous or fun birthday party idea, but it is the most heartfelt thing I could think of to usher in my next decade.

So rather than gifts or Zoom parties or anything else to celebrate my birthday, please join me in raising funds for Black & Pink National's Opportunity Campus! 

Here's why this fundraiser matters so much to me: 

In January 2019, I went to a Black & Pink penpal matching meeting in a church basement in Chicago. I met some volunteers and sorted through stacks of letters from LGBTQIA2s+ friends who are incarcerated in Illinois. I remember picking up Naphtali's letter and being immediately charmed by how he wrote about being a Virgo and caring for his family. I wrote him a letter and we've been BFFs ever since!

Over the past 2 years while Naphtali and I have been getting to know and support each other, Black & Pink has grown A TON. In 2020, their staff grew from 3 people to 15 people, and they opened the Lydon House in Omaha, Nebraska. Lydon House provides housing and wrap around support services to LGBTQIA2s+ people who are impacted by incarceration.

And now, they're dreaming even bigger! The Opportunity Campus will be a housing and community space in Omaha, Nebraska for LGBTQIA2S+ youth and young adults who are system-impacted (meaning impacted by such violent carceral systems as incarceration, detention, foster care, and family surveillance). 

This initiative will provide housing, wrap around support services, mental health support, daily drop-in services (such as hot meals, showers, food pantry, and laundry), and community programming to system-impacted LGBTQIA2s+ youth, young adults, and their families. All services at the Opportunity Campus will be provided at no-cost to our residents and members.

Black & Pink means so much to me (and to Naphtali), and I'd be honored if you'd support the Opportunity Campus with a donation of any amount. If everyone I've invited to this fundraiser donated just $10, we'd hit my $1000 goal immediately. 

Please donate today as we build towards safety, health, and happiness for young trans and queer people in Nebraska! Help me hit $1000 in donations by my 30th birthday on April 19th. LOVE YOU BABES!!! XOXOXO