Support the Phoenix Rising Fund
Suggested Donation: $25-$500
Support the Newburgh LGBTQ+ Center: Phoenix Rising Fund, which provides a safety net for when the systems of white/resourced/heteronormative/cisgender-centering patriarchy fail to protect us, the historically marginalized. You have the opportunity to continue being an accomplice in the fight against systematic oppression. Your donation today will ensure that the most vulnerable in our community have a resource they need in times of extreme and/or unanticipated hardship.
First, we want to thank you!
Thank you to everyone who has made a donation or helped us to share the Phoenix Rising Fundraiser in 2020. Every dollar that was raised during our efforts helped us to pay for Phoenix’s rent, debt, and personal costs while she was in a rehabilitation facility during her recovery. It was a hard year for us collectively as a group and individually for Phoenix Gayle. Your donation went a long way.
How can YOU help today?
When released from her rehabilitation facility in the middle of February, the only plan that Phoenix had was to head to a shelter. As an organization we understood the setbacks Phoenix would have to navigate to get stable while also still healing; managing type 1 diabetes while eating at soup kitchens and food pantries which typically serve food that is high in sugar, and navigating a new disability which renders her dominate hand nearly useless.
With the COVID-19 health crisis, Phoenix is now more vulnerable as someone living with type-1 diabetes and asthma. Please help us by making a donation to the Phoenix Rising Fund today so that we can meet our goal of $17,000 in order to keep Phoenix housed for at least a year. If you can’t make a donation at this time please help us by sharing this campaign.
Queers like us.
Like many trans or queer-identified community members, Phoenix has relied on the relationships within her community for support. LGBTQ+ identified people make up a small percentage of our population, yet we experience higher rates of homelessness, poverty, and abuse because of our gender or sexual identity. The intersections of race, class, gender performance and sexual identity put people of color at greater risk for the aforementioned issues. Not everyone is supported by their families because of who they are. It is through a chosen family that we are able to survive. We chose Phoenix as family and Phoenix chose us.
The Newburgh LGBTQ+ Center was there for her: doctors’ visits and documentation, providing advocacy, tending to personal business, working with social service organizations to support her transition from the rehabilitation center into a suitable living situation. We provided this support because we know how easily LGBTQ+ identified community members, especially people of color, slip through the crack.
Why we need to change the system.
We learned a few things during this ordeal. What happened to Phoenix can happen to anyone and does happen to countless people in our community. We are not a direct service provision organization yet we knew that Phoenix was going to face some factors heading into the healthcare system that could determine her health outcome:
the ages of 30-35, impacted by systemic racism, interpersonal, and
state-sanctioned violence.
higher rates of unemployment.
systemic and interpersonal discrimination impact the care trans people
receive. Systemic racism is the underlying factor to these statistics for
Black trans womxn.
As a group of queer people of color who have experience navigating healthcare systems in our professional and personal lives, we understood when Phoenix fell ill she was going to need a community pulling for her. She was going to need a medical proxy, general advocacy, case management, mental health support, and financial support.
So we thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this and thank you for those of you who donated. Your donation literally will save lives now and in the future.
Are you sure?
