RainbowYOUTH are dedicated to reaching out to rural communities around the country and are asking for support continue to do so. The organisation launched their I’m Local Crowdfunding Campaign over the weekend and are humbled by the support they received on their launch night. The I’m Local Project first kicked off in 2014 and the LGBTI youth advocacy and support organisation has been delivering free LGBTI to rural communities ever since. The launch of the crowdfunding campaign was held at Mexico in Ellerslie and the restaurant came to the table, offering a free taco to anyone who donated over $20 on the night. “The night was great - we’re really humbled by the support we’ve received so far - we’re 23% of the way there already” says Toni Duder – Communications Manager at RainbowYOUTH, creator and project lead of I’m Local. “Mexico Ellerslie was really generous lending us their space, and giving out free tacos to those who donated $20 or more. “The generosity so far has been incredible, but we have to keep pushing to reach the finish line. Every little bit helps!” She says “The I’m Local Project is close to my heart, I grew up in a rural community where I had no exposure to anything other than the norm. Which made things really isolating when I realised I sat somewhere outside of that norm.” “It was lonely. I was surrounded my a community I’d known my whole life, but I had no one and no idea about what I was feeling, or that it could ever be an okay thing”. In March of 2014, Duder and a team of RainbowYOUTH volunteers began contacting schools, medical centres, public libraries, marae and community organisations around Northland and wider Auckland. With a first print run of 20,000 ‘Queer and Trans 101’ booklets and posters Duder says it was slow going at first. “A lot of organisations just didn’t respond to our emails. It wasn’t until we actually put ourselves on the end of phone calls that we started to get results,” says Duder. Since 2014, RainbowYOUTH have been able to print a total of 60,000 bookets and get them out to rural communities around Northland, wider Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Southland. In April, RainbowYOUTH realised they could not keep up with demand and Duder says it receives an average of five requests a week from across the country for the ‘Queer and Trans 101’ comics. This is the first time the organisation has turned to crowdfunding platform Givealittle to raise money and they hope these funds will keep the project running. “Ideally, we’d love to have these resources all over the country, and have the resources to provide further support in these communities,” Duder says. RainbowYOUTH are asking their friends, allies and communities across the country to lend a hand and help them reach a goal of $10,000 – which will allow them to pay for 30,000 more booklets to be printed, and to cover postage costs to send them around the country. To donate, visit The I’m Local Project’s Givealittle page.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 9th June 2016 - 1:13pm