Hi friends,
Wow…can you believe fall is now here? Fall is a great time to enjoy the colors of changing leaves! I do hope you make some time to get outside and enjoy the fall!OutSupport has a lot of events to attend in the next month, and we are very excited about all of them! Here are some upcoming events in the area open to the public…we hope to see you at some of them!
1) Medina High School Ally coffee is BAAACK!! Next Monday, Oct. 11, from 2:30-4:00. If you are unaware, prior to Covid, the Ally Coffee was a hugely successful event held every year at Medina High school, and LOTS of Allies and friends came to hang out with the GSAKids, to get to know them, and let them know that there is support for them in the community. Please register by this Friday if you plan on attending! While masking isn’t mandatory, I plan on wearing one, and hope that many attendees do, too. Flyer attached!
2) Our friends at colors+ Youth Center in Fairview Park have lots of activities for youth this month, including a Mindful Boxing series! Please check out their website at www.colorsplus.org …lots of great activities!
3) Our friends at Love on a Mission are having a Gala fundraising event on Nov. 13 in Mansfield, with the theme “Over the Rainbow”! They do great things with youth in the Mansfield/Ashland areas! check them out at www.loveonamission.org
4) Our friends at the Kent State University LGBTQ Center asked me to speak at a program they are having titled “So your kid came out as LGBTQ+….Now what?!” on October 18 from 6:30-7:30pm. As a Proud KSU alum, I’m very happy to be a part of the program!! flyer attached
5) After a sold out show in Medina in July, Drag Me To Dinner!! will have a second show on Jan.22, 2022 at Williams on the Lake in Medina! Get your tickets early! They sell out fast!! Eventbrite.com for tickets
6) OutSupport was selected by an organization called Can’d Aid , as part of their Treads + Trails, to help youth get outside and create healthy habits! They partner with the store Journeys to provide skateboards for youth. OutSupport is meant to receive 19 skateboards and helmets for youth who are LGBTQ+ at some point this month. We will post a special email to this group, and it will have to be on a first come, first serve basis. We will let folx know where the distribution will take place at that time. Very cool! for more info on the organization, check out www.candaid.org
7) Outsupport has been asked to present to the Medina City Schools HoneyComb teacher inservice day. We will be happy to present with James Knapp, of TransOhio to help middle and high school teachers learn about transgender issues, as well as the legal information regarding school/student rights, Title IX, and basic transgender information to help them be better teachers to ALL students!
8) We will be attending Medina and Brunswick HS GSA meetings coming up (we are happy to provide lots of bling…flags, buttons, stickers, etc…!)
9) We will also be speaking to the Medina ShareCluster meeting to distribute the books to each school system about welcoming trans students in elementary school, as well as similar bling for each counselor in Medina County Schools to show support for LGBTQ+ youth who attend their schools, and know they are safe with that counselor.
10) We’ve been asked to present basic transgender information to a group of Cleveland Clinic Nurse Practitioners and MAs. We’ve had some great feedback from transgender individuals to make sure we impart the correct information, although, to be clear, we provide basic information that some of the audience may not be aware of.
11) We continue our partnership with the Medina County Health Dept. and the tobacco use prevention/cessation efforts as it relates to LGBTQ+ population. At our last OutSupport OutDoors for the season, Rebecca Parkhurst, Community Educator for the MCHD spoke with attendees regarding how LGBTQ+ folx are targeted for tobacco marketing purposes, and that LGBTQ+ folx use tobacco at a higher percentage than the cis/het population. the MCHD has other programs that they want us to let you know about, including HIV testing, PreP availability, as well as general health related concerns. The MCHD is planning and scheduling HIV Community Screenings through the rest of 2021. For more information about the services they provide, visit https://medinahealth.org/hiv-testing-prevention-and-treatmentor for general information about all the services they provide, including Covid vaccines clinic, dental care, and many other programs to keep us all healthy, visit https://medinahealth.org
OK! That’s it for our monthly newsletter! We hope you have a safe and healthy month!
Kindest regards,
Sandy
she/her
