(he/him/his)
I moved to Indiana June 2018 after meeting my partner through an online dating app. I have always been involved with organizations through financial contributions but never really at the grass roots level. We attended the Masquerade at the Damien Center in 2018 and 2019, which was a lot of fun and very expensive.
Then Pandemia hit – you know My Corona! (if you sang that – we are close in age)
As things started to open again, we decided that we wanted to support our community. I suggested we give a few hours to volunteering at an LGBTQ+ organization. Bloomington was the obvious option as that’s where we live. But the only real thing that I ever saw was the August event. I believe we attended the Spencer Pride Festival in June 2019. I knew that there were other areas to explore. We knew we did not want to spend a lot of money attending another Masquerade. We knew we did not want to hit up the event-that-appears-to-be-for-everyone-but-really-is-for-the-university (my opinion).
So, I started searching and saw that volunteers were needed for the Spencer Pride Festival in October 2021. We talked about it and decided to give four hours of our time to help at the festival. What a whirlwind of a day that was! On our way home, we discussed our next steps. I decided to sign up as a volunteer (he would too, a few months later). I also noticed the need of a Marketing and External Communications Director.
I started volunteering at the commUnity center in December 2021. I was installed as Director in March 2022 – I know, it feels like I have been around much longer. Since that time, I have been working on our social media presence and our website (there has been much improvement, but there is still more to do).
I am looking forward to the next 15 years and hoping to expand our reach and to continue to educate our community!