Wed 11 Mar 2015 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
RainbowYOUTH have put together a video about their Community Wardrobe, a labour of love, which is now open at the back of their K’ Rd drop-in centre. The wardrobe is about at supporting gender diverse and queer young people, with donated clothes available to be tried on in a safe and affirming place - and taken home free. Funding from youth sector support organisation Ara Taiohi help kick off the wardrobe which involved materials to renovate a storage shed at the back of the RainbowYOUTH drop-in centre to include shelves, lighting, a coat of paint and clothing racks. Over the past three months, volunteers have been hard at work to get the wardrobe ready in time for an opening to coincide with the Auckland Pride Festival with Westlake Girls’ College running a clothing drive at the end of 2014 to generate a huge amount of clothes to fill the wardrobe. With the support of the K R’d Business Association, the wardrobe was launched and officially opened on the 14th of February and is now open for public use. “We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of volunteers who have helped make this dream possible,” says Aych McArdle, Education Director at RainbowYOUTH. “Often both money and stigma are barriers to accessing identity affirming clothing for our young people. We wanted to create a safe space where our rangatahi could get what they need and for it to be a really positive experience." RainbowYOUTH will be taking donations later on in the year – for now they have more than enough quality clothing, shoes, accessories and chest garments (binders/bras). Jacqui Stanford, with RainbowYOUTH - 11th March 2015
Credit: Jacqui Stanford, with RainbowYOUTH
First published: Wednesday, 11th March 2015 - 9:37am