Non-Profit Organization: ALSO Youth
Favorite LGBT Group: Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota Annual Event: Sarasota Pride - Winter Wonderland! LGBT Activist: Shannon M Fortner LGBT Owned Business: Mellow Mushroom Sarasota Favorite Business: The Reserve SRQ Area Attraction: The Ringling Performing Arts Venue: Asolo Repertory Theatre Pet Lodging: SPOT srq Dog Grooming Realtor: Jim Jablonski Insurance Agency: Allstate Insurance Agent: Richard Dean Plummer II Hotel: Art Ovation Hotel, Autograph Collection Travel Agency: myXOAdventures Apartment Community: ARCOS Apartments Church: MCC Church of the Trinity Salon: SALON FORTY ONE On Palm Avenue Fitness Center: Balance Health + Fitness Health Care Professional: Complete Care Group Community Bank: Sabal Palm Bank Beauty Spa: The Laser Lounge Spa of Sarasota Make-UP Artist: MOD Makeup on Demand Coffee Spot: The Reserve SRQ Restaurant: Sage SRQ Chef: Christopher Covelli Brunch: Station 400 Sarasota Happy Hour: G2H2 Sarasota - Gay Group Happy Hour Bar: Purple Rhino Lodge Bartender: Hunter Vance LGBT Bar Purple Rhino Lodge Drag Queen Bingo: Beneva Fruitville's Drag Queen Bingo Bonanza at McCurdys Boutique: Pixie Dust Metaphysical Boutique Wedding Venue: Selby Gardens - Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Interior Designer: Interior Design Society of Sarasota Gallery: The Ringling Artist: Tom A. Ford Photographer: Samantha Ponzillo Media Musician: Jami Sophia Gee DJ: Lucy Blu Adult Novelty Store: Giggles Sarasota Drag Personality: Beneva Fruitville Social Media Personality: Joey Panek Youth: Tyler Lerch ICON AWARD: Margaret Good As I woke up this morning I will thrilled to have checked my email and received a message from a G2H2 patron about a charity he was spearheading for ALSO YOUTH. I quickly sat down in front of my computer and wanted to share the story with SarasotaOUT.com readers! Check out PROJECT ALSO. Today, I spoke with Raf the charity liaison for the Interior Design Society of Sarasota. The Interior Design Society or IDS is a national organization for designers, trades, and retailers who's mission is to raise money for local charities and student scholarships. Each IDS chapter is responsible for reaching out into the community in a program called IDS Impact. Our Sarasota IDS chapter has been working the sidelines for the last year to help renovate ALSO Youth’s drop in center located in Sarasota. They are now rolling their efforts out to the public with a campaign called PROJECT ALSO. ALSO Youth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides peer support services, educational programs, advocacy, and referrals for LGBTQIA youth who are 21 and under, their families and friends, and the community. ALSO Youth’s outreach includes LGBTQIA Inclusion trainings for organizations and businesses, “Ally 101” workshops for students/youth organizations, an ALSO Youth Ambassador program which provides a platform for youth to speak in the community as a panel or as individuals, Gay-Straight-Alliance/ Gender-Sexualities-Alliance (GSA) support to local schools, and more. They are desperately in need of light construction to build private meeting rooms in their facilities so they can run multiple support groups and meetings simultaneously.ALSO Youth is now in it’s 25th year and 12th year in its current location. They need the communities help. They are desperately in need of light construction to build private meeting rooms in their facilities so they can run multiple support groups and meetings simultaneously. Because of the nature of their meetings, particularly the weekly transgender meetings, more privacy is necessary to provide a functioning safe space for the youth to meet. The IDS Sarasota chapter have set up a Go-Fund Me account and are trying to raise $8500. They have vendors, private donations and some materials donated already but are still thousands of dollars short. They are not only looking for monetary donations, they are also looking for Flooring, Furniture, Paint, Construction, Drywall, Wall Art, Rugs, Organization, Cleaning & Volunteers! We at SaraostaOUT.com will help in any way we can and will cover the story as it progresses! If you would like to donate time or materials please reach out. idssrq@gmail.com We are looking forward to see how PROJECT ALSO makes an impact on our community! By: Joshua Beadle, Editor & Chief of SarasotaOUT.com
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