tl;dr I am taking donations for The Zebra Coalition® and The Trevor Project until my birthday. Donations will also be raffle entries for one of you to tell me what color to dye my hair, so I’ll be doing public presentations with a visual reminder of your donation.
We raised $1080! And now my hair is pink!
Why Am I Doing This?
If we haven’t met, hello! My name is david, and I am a cisgendered, gay male currently living in Florida. I have been fairly lucky in life when it comes to my non-heteronormative identity, but I know that’s not always the case. I have previously discussed some of my own issues around discrimination and mental health, so I won’t rehash them here.
Suffice to say, not everyone is as lucky to have the support group that I have around myself. My goal is to raise money for two very worthy charities that are specifically focused on LGBTQ+ youth, one of the most vulnerable groups in need of support.
My birthday is at the end of the month, and I normally do donation drives in January. I thought that it’d be fun to do something a bit different in 2020 by promoting two organizations, as well as gamifying donations a bit by giving someone the opportunity to dictate what my hair will look like during the next few public presentations that I give. Let rooms of a few dozen/hundred people know that you won and made whatever poor (or hopefully cute) choice that I live with 😂
Where Are Donations Going?
There are two organizations that I’ll be making donations to as part of this drive: The Zebra Coalition®, and The Trevor Project. Both are organizations that I already personally donate to.
My husband and I have made donations of food, toiletries, Easter baskets, Christmas stockings, and cash/gift cards for the past five years to The Zebra Coalition®, which is located near our home. We have also done training classes with them, and I’m working on setting up a new series this year.
The Zebra Coalition®
Zebra Coalition® is a network of organizations which provide services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and all youth (LGBTQ+) ages 13 – 24.
The Coalition assists young people facing homelessness, bullying, isolation from their families, and physical, sexual and drug abuse with individualized programs to guide them to recovery and stability.
The Trevor Project
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
The Trevor Project is an American non-profit organization founded in 1998 focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth. Through a toll-free telephone number, it operates The Trevor Lifeline, a confidential service that offers trained counselors.
What is the Raffle?
I have been growing my hair out slightly because I plan on dying it when it is a bit longer at the end of the month. Most of you only know me with very short or short hair, so this will be a change already! I have also been wanting to dye it for a while and was leaning toward a bright pink or bright blue.
What I thought would be more fun would be to direct my annual birthday donation drive toward a raffle. For every $5 that you donate to the charities, you’ll get one entry. At the end of a three week run (Thursday, 23 January 2020 @ 11:59PM) I’ll take all raffle entries and randomly choose one of them.
The selected person will be able to dictate the color that I dye my hair. I’ll then share pictures from my birthday, as well as the WordPress Orlando Meetup on 28 January where I’ll be doing a presentation on Gutenberg and the Block Editor.
I plan on sharing details about both organizations at the Meetup to encourage further donations. During any presentations that I give for the next few months while the color is still in I’ll mention the donor as well and share a link of your choice.
Rules
- Donations must be made by 23 January 2020 @ 11:59PM
- The winner will be informed on Friday morning, 24 January 2020
- Time will be of the essence to select a color. I’ll need it by Saturday morning, the 25th!
- You can choose just to donate and let someone else decide for you if you want
- I’ll provide color options based on the availability of dye colors from the stylist
- You can choose to provide a link or not for me to share
- Anonymous donors are still eligible for the raffle, but you can opt out if you choose
- Every $5 USD donated will count as one entry. You can donate as much as you’d like
- 100% of the funds donated will be converted to checks addressed directly to the two organizations
- 50% of the donations will go to The Zebra Coalition®, 50% of the donations will go to The Trevor Project
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