lgbt homeless

Helping LGBT Youth – March 2012

March 21, 2012 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Every month I try to post about the two LGBT Youth organizations that I help (in a small way) with the proceeds from The Value Of Rain. Both organizations are trying to meet increasing demands with very little funding. So if you can see it in your heart to help out these groups, which work directly to take homeless LGBT kids off the street, you will do so knowing that your small contribution helped take a kid off the streets and showed him that someone cared enough to say YES, you are worthy of being loved.

GLBTAYS – DONATE

In a state that ranks as #1 for being the worst place for homeless youth, this organization fights against innumerable social, religious and monetary odds to help provide LGBT Youth with a safe place to interact, converse, learn and, if need be, helps them find a safe place to stay. Recently they launched a multimedia project called “From Behind The Mask” which shows real people and real struggles in the LGBT Youth community. It is definitely something you’ll want to check out.

Saint Lost & Found – DONATE

Taking 25 kids off the street and ‘graduating’ two to near self independence is not an easy task. Ask the guys and girls over at St. Lost and Found and what you’ll hear isn’t about how hard it is, but how rewarding it is when something as simple as a “glad to meet you” changes a kid’s perspective from one of desolation to one of hope for their future. But they’ve done much more than that and continue to help those that need our help the most.

Helping LGBT Youth – February 2012

February 22, 2012 By Brandon Leave a Comment

This kind of post is important to me because it lets my readers know 1) What’s going on with the money you spend when you buy The Value Of Rain (half the proceeds are donated to the two LGBT Youth nonprofits below); and 2) It also shows you how just a little time and money can have a massive impact. People tend to have this ingrained idea that their small contributions, or that the one hour they can volunteer a week, doesn’t really matter in the big schemes of things. It DOES matter! It matters to the kids that have no one else to turn to. Never forget that. Here’s just a few examples:

Saint Lost and Found

Since the conception of Lost N Found, they have helped over THREE DOZEN kids in the past three months. Here’s an report from Rick Westbrook a.k.a. Sister Rapture Divine Cox in their latest Facebook post:

The kids have come to us in all shapes, sizes, and colors. These youths are each special and incredible in their own way. They come to us not broken, but certainly with some damage such as walls built up, trust issues, and still in survival mode. Some have been abused, starved, neglected, or otherwise just thrown to the curb. [Read more…] about Helping LGBT Youth – February 2012

Helping LGBT Youth – January 2012

January 6, 2012 By Brandon 2 Comments

As many of you already know, I am a LGBT Youth advocate and donate half the proceeds from The Value of Rain to help two local nonprofit organizations whose dedication and goals match my own. Occasionally I post updates here about what they are doing and how they are affecting the LGBT Youth community. Considering the age of both of these organizations, what they have done in such a short time is nothing less than phenomenal, and it is exactly why they will continue to get my support. [Read more…] about Helping LGBT Youth – January 2012

Lost and Found Youth

November 18, 2011 By Brandon Leave a Comment

The Lost and Found Organization is a grass roots Atlanta based movement working to get LGBT kids off the street right now, at this very moment. It is still in its infancy, but it is already changing lives. Below is just one of the latest updates about what’s going on with the movement and with the organization. I am very proud to say that this is one of the nonprofits that benefits from sales of Rain and one of the very few I have ever worked with that is out there going to the kids instead of waiting for them to show up. This is the gay community helping lgbt youth. Read below how such simple acts of kindness change lives, perceptions and eventually… life outcomes. And please consider a donation. $20 gets one kid off the street for the night and gives him/her a warm bed, and the hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

FIRST – I am happy to report that the Lesbian couple and baby get to meet their GOSTER= Gay Foster Family tomorrow nite. If all goes well and they approve of each other, they will be moving in next week. [Read more…] about Lost and Found Youth

What Do You Tell Him?

November 7, 2011 By Brandon 5 Comments

Meet Tyler.

Tyler’s dad found out he was homosexual and disowned him, denied that he ever existed, and threw him out of the house after beating him unconscious. Tyler is 14.

When he is on the street picking through dumpsters looking for something, anything, to eat, he thinks of all the times he heard his parents tell him that they would love him no matter what.

He recalls when he lay curled in his father’s lap while his daddy read to him. He remembers that he would drift off to sleep in his arms only to awaken the next morning tucked safely in bed. He thinks that this memory, which has suddenly left him trembling and near tears again, is only three years old. Just three years, when he was eleven, and didn’t really understand all the names and rage his father would throw at him later.

He wonders what his mom is doing now, why she never stepped forward and said, “Enough!” Why she never did anything on that night but cinch the curtain a little tighter when he turned and looked back at what used to be his home. Did she hate him too? [Read more…] about What Do You Tell Him?