May 15 is the second annual Give Out Day. The purpose of Give OUT Day, a national initiative, is to engage hundreds of organizations and mobilize thousands of people on a single day across the country to give in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
It’s a chance for LGBTQ groups large and small, to work across the wide range of issues and activities that matter to the LGBTQ community from sports to policy change, families to the arts. It is your chance to support these organizations and stand up for the LGTBQ causes you believe in.
Here at the Smoocher’s Voice blog, we strive to support the LGBTQ community and its allies. We welcome author Brandon Shire to the blog today to write about the importance of supporting LGTBQ youth organizations, such as Lost-n-Found Youth (http://lostnfoundyouth.org/).
my books to charity. For me, this isn’t
the type of question that I would normally ask (anyone), but I smile politely
and tell the person that making a difference means more to me than simply
talking about how things could/should/would
be different if…
Together we are the entire what if
factor that makes things change.
together:
impacted over 200 homeless lgbt kids in the last year. We have helped purchase
a property that will soon hold a safe house for more homeless lgbt kids. We
have helped open a thrift shop so that a charity can self-sustain. We have
identified almost 1000 lgbt kids who still need our help. We have gotten a
movement together that is beginning to blossom (nationwide) and has just lately
demanded action from the federal level on youth homelessness. We have brought lgbt programs to a part of the
country that had none. We have led
the fight to stop bullying of lgbt kids in school. We have helped set up a Safe
House program. The list goes on…and on and on.
two organizations which my readers and I support directly did not do this by
themselves. There are a growing number of lgbt youth
organizations, there are a growing number of volunteers, there is growing
awareness, and… there is still a growing need.
being pushed into a life of sexual survival slavery, and still taking their own
lives at disproportionately higher rates than their hetero-sexual counterparts.
pair of socks that makes a difference. It seems odd that a pair of socks can
give a person a sense of self worth. But it’s true. I have seen it.
soul-breaking.
As a kid I tossed them aside and went for the real gifts. Now I donate
them. What a turn-around.
wonder if your small donation makes a difference. Let me assure you that it
does.
cleans socks. That makes a difference, a huge difference. It changes lives.
Sometimes, it even saves them.