help Sylvia’s Place!

photo taken by me late December 2007 when I was @Sylvia’s doing a writing workshop

This can be a rough time of year for a lot of  LGBTQ folks, but it’s especially hard for the thousands of homeless LGBTQ youth across the country who not only are being bombarded with the frequently triggering  imagery of the importance of “going home for the holidays”  but also have to deal with the basic realities of survival.  That’s the reality of  the 40% of homeless youth in this country that identify as LGBTQ.

As most of you know when I’m not here blogging about all things femme the main focus of my work is on storytelling and trying to do my part to try to end the epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness.  Through this work with my anthology Kicked Out I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with an incredible organization here in NYC called Sylvia’s Place.  I know that this isn’t an explicitly femme themed post, but I think you can all forgive a bit of topic creep for a good cause, and besides lots of homeless LGBTQ youth are femmes.

Sylvia’s is the only emergency shelter for LGBTQ youth in NYC, this is the real deal. I had the extreme privilege of working with some of the youth that call the shelter home as they crafted their submissions for the Kicked Out anthology, and have had many conversations with staff members. Let me assure you this is the real deal. Sylvia’s Place which is housed in the basement of the MCC Church of NYC  is saving lives every day, and they need our help. The youth living  (over 40 on any given night) who are living in about 800 square feet  might be going to sleep on concrete floors (yes really), but they are safe,  have supportive staff to talk to, and have eaten dinner. Sylvia’s needs our help to continue providing these services.  This has been a rough year for all non profits but Sylvia’s place has been hit harder than most, the city of New York has pulled a major chunk of their funding and they are surviving because of donations from folks like us.

In NYC? There will be two benefit holiday parties / food& clothing drives next week (you can get more info here)

Tuesday  Dec. 15 @ The Phoenix
W. 13th Street btw. 1st Ave and Ave A
9 PM

Thursday  Dec. 17 @ Nowhere Bar
322 E. 14th Street btw.1st and 2nd Aves
9 PM

There are items that are desperately and urgently needed this year:

Toothpaste and toothbrushes
Personal hygiene products
Warm socks
Cold and Flu medicines-generics and store brands are fine
Basic first aid supplies
Canned and boxed food goods
Coats,jackets, and gloves-used and clean is fine
Hats and caps-used and clean is fine
Scarfs-used and clean is fine
Blankets-used and clean is fine

If you aren’t in NYC and still want to help you can send any of the above items directly to Sylvia’s Place or send them such much needed cash. All donations are tax deductible . I know some folks outside of the city are getting together and sending one big box to cut down on shipping expenses- its’ a great idea! After all, I know a lot of us have so many more fabulous (and warm) clothes than we need.

Homeless Youth Services
c/o MCCNY
446 W. 36th St.
(between 9th & 10th Ave.)
New York, NY
10018

Checks and money orders should be made payable to
M.C.C.N.Y.Y.S

Sylvia’s also accepts Pay Pal and Credit Cards.
http://www.homelessyouthservices.org/Generalpaypal.html

My partner and I are going out this weekend to purchase some  toiletries,  to bring with us next Thursday to the event at Nowhere bar. I’m also going to raid my dressing room- I have about 4 warm coats that no longer fit me properly, but are so fabulous that I just haven’t been able to bring myself to give them away, until now. I know for a fact that there are a lot of femmes of all genders living at Sylvia’s place who need a warm coat, and I’m sure will fall in love with one of these.

Come on femmes, let’s get donating!!!!!!!!!

Other posts by Sassafras

• September Femme Writing Prompt! - September 1st, 2010
• Rebel girl, Rebel girl, Rebel girl you are the inspiration to my femme gender - August 25th, 2010
• Trust Your Love... - August 18th, 2010
• August Femmes Guide Prompt - August 4th, 2010
• Femmepop ! - July 31st, 2010