Today marks one year since Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities (PLC) was registered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And what a first year we’ve had.
Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities was established in 2021 to raise community awareness and promote grassroots engagement for neighborhood quality of life, animal welfare, anti-poverty, and LGBTQ+ issues in Western Pennsylvania.
We’ve been busy. We were supposed to lay the groundwork this year, but we dove right into things.
Our work around #PghCatFolx and other animal welfare needs has been booming. We’ve been doing community building work among cat folx on Pittsburgh’s Northside with the support of One Northside. Our colony at #FortFaulsey is stable – no kittens. We have attracted a few new adults, but that’s unfortunately to be expected. We’ve made some headway with creating the Manchester Community Cat Garden – we have a shed donated that needs to be assembled and we’ve helped multiple folx in the LGBTQ community with their own cat colonies.
We printed #ProudCatFolx yard signs as a fundraiser.
Our biggest project has been our work to #ProtectTransKids. From just showing up to support the family to the yard signs, stickers, and pens – it has been immensely busy. And hopefully successful. We’ve been able to order 1000 signs, 2500 stickers, and 2500 pens all with donations from the community. We’ve raised over $16,000 since late June. And all of those funds go back into the project.
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We’ve
- Established Protect Trans Kids Day in Pittsburgh with a proclamation written by LGBTQ youth, mainly trans youth.
- Connected with local media to discuss how they cover trans issues.
- Begun implementing the proclamation priorities by ordering pens to distribute to healthcare providers.
- Worked with the community to address the airing of anti-trans advertisements on eight local radio stations.
I have to admit that there’s a thrill in seeing the signs as I drove around my daily routes. The visual reminder of how many people (over 800) who planted a sign is touching and humbling. ‘Thrill’ is probably the wrong word because of the circumstances, but hopeful might be better? I feel hopeful when I see a sign or a cluster of signs, when someone sends me a pic of a sticker “in the wild” sort of thing.
PLC is doing its very best to address gaps in services, not to replicate what is already being done – and well – by other groups. We are not starting any sort of cat rescue group or an LGBTQ agency. We are here to support the people doing this work. That’s what I’ve personally and through this blog have tried to do over the years – to show up and do what I can to help. To be the adult I needed in my life when I was a kid. Those are my personal goals. PLC isn’t just about me, but I’m pleased that our board and volunteers support those perspectives.
Donations can be made via
- GoFundMe (no fees) https://www.gofundme.com/charity/pittsburgh-lgbtq-charitiesd **Preferred
- Venmo @PittsburghLGBTQ
- Paypal bit.ly/PayPalPLC
- Facebook.com/PittsburghLGBTQ – Click on Donation
- Checks made payable to ‘Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities’ and mailed to 1439 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15233
- Our Amazon wishlist has an ongoing list of needed supplies. We also have a list at Chewy if you prefer.
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