Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Fund Awards Grants

By Kathy Wehle

Closing out the 2011 grant-making cycle, the Orcas Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Fund awarded grants to local island nonprofits totaling $9,865. Grantees for 2011 are the Orcas Family Health Center, the Island Reproductive Health Initiative, Kaleidoscope, Orcas Center, and the Orcas Island Community Foundation.

The nonprofit organizations were selected by the LGBT Fund Grants Committee based on their filing an initial Letter of Intent and then a grant proposal that showed how the funds would be used to fulfill the LGBT fund mission of inclusiveness, encouraging civil discourse, and promoting diversity.

Orcas Family Health Center will sponsor “Our Whole Lives” a 27 week lifespan sexuality curriculum that focuses on self-worth, sexual health, responsibility, and justice and inclusivity. The Island Reproductive Health grant will help make it possible for teens and young adults on Orcas to have access to confidential, local and immediate medical care for their sexual health needs at minimal or no cost.

Kaleidoscope is purchasing books and playthings that provide opportunities for children and families to experience diversity and practice acceptance though literature and dramatic play.

The grant to Orcas Center supports a collaborative project between Orcas Island Education Foundation and the Center to use inspiration from the “It Gets Better Project” to create a theater piece for students and adults to be performed at the Center.

Finally, the Orcas LGBT fund became a Cornerstone Contributor to the Orcas Island Community Foundation.

The Orcas LGBT Fund at the Orcas Island Community Foundation grants funds to non-profit organizations with ties to Orcas Island for programs that encourage civil discourse, and broaden awareness and acceptance of LGBT people. For more information or to make a donation, visit the website www.orcaslgbtfund.org/.

The Orcas LGBT Fund is a donor-advised fund held at the Orcas Island Community Foundation and supported by both gay and straight friends of Orcas Island. Some of our dozens of donors are active members of the Orcas LGBT community. Other donors are progressive islanders who believe in the mission and goals of the LGBT Fund. We also have donors who are visitors to Orcas and others who have been touched by our island and our unique way of life.