More than 10 years ago, when I was the co-director of a feminist community center in Portland (pictured above), I wrote a grant proposal to Pride Foundation. We received a modest award that allowed us to buy chairs to accommodate the hundreds of people who came to our space each month, making it more accessible to everyone in our community.
On the surface, they were just chairs. But chairs helped us create something invaluable: a welcoming, inclusive space to be in community with each other, where we could work, and also rest, recharge, and take care of one another. A seemingly small grant made a huge difference for our community who needed that space at that moment.
Pride Foundation was founded to support and build more spaces like this across the Northwest—spaces where we can all be who we are. All these years later, I appreciate that my first introduction to this organization mirrors so well the core vision for our work together: to create a world where all LGBTQ+ people live safely and openly as our whole selves, in all the communities we call home.
Building community and creating a bigger table will always be the foundation for all we do—and your support makes that work possible.
I hope you’ll help us continue to do just that by making a gift this week. Through Friday, your gift to Pride Foundation will be matched dollar for dollar by one of our long-time supporters. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to double your support today.
All of us deserve to be who we are—and we need everyone at the table, charting our path forward. I believe with my whole heart that our table is big enough for everyone in our communities.
I’ll bring the chairs.
Katie Carter is Pride Foundation’s CEO.