What’s Up at the Center?
The Sunshine Report
As a recently new volunteer to the Center, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our incoming volunteers, and a big thank you to our Board of Directors, outgoing Coordinator Connie (We will miss you!) and the current volunteers for supporting the LGBT Resource Center. Without the help of volunteers our resource center would not exist. I would also like to extend a hand of friendship to the community’s college students who are preparing for the fall/winter semester right now.
The change of seasons may not be in the air yet, but I can guarantee everyone that there is a lot of transformation going on at the LGBT Resource Center. The Center not only has new volunteers, but it also has plenty of innovative and very vital material ranging from coming out and needing support, to dealing with bigotry. Growing up feeling different from your peers can be an intense and anxious period in one’s life. I had walked down that lonely road of isolation with the feeling that there was no help or hope to guide me through all of those bumps along the way. I accidentally stumbled upon a beacon of hope for people struggling to find their paths in life when I walked into the resource center for the first time a couple of months ago. I was amazed by the amount of information that this little center had to offer. Anything from the upcoming Pride Fest on August 18th, to new guides for students and teachers on how to fight hatred and intolerance in schools, to local and national contacts for those in need of emotional support. This truly is a resource center for the entire community to take advantage of, since we do offer material for those who support LGBTs as well.
The Center is quite a diverse place, and it would be great to see some new faces to take advantage of our library and all of the wonderful pamphlets and other informational guides that seem to be collecting too much dust!
The LGBT Resource Center at 303 Pearl Street is presently open on Mondays and Thursdays from 1:30 p.m.-6 p.m., and it is also open on Saturdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. You can also call the Center at (608) 784-0452. I urge everyone to stop in, and see what the Center has to offer!
Warmest Regards,
Johnnie L. Schmeckpeper
7 Rivers LGBT Resource Center volunteer