Around The OPALGA Center
OPALGA Receives Additional Grants
We are pleased to announce that the Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC) has again awarded OPALGA with a grant to support our coffeehouse soirees at the Buzz Café and our youth poetry and art group, OUTspoken.
This year, in addition to the OPAAC grant, the Community Bank of Oak Park and River Forest has awarded OPALGA $1,000 “in recognition of your community outreach efforts. …[T]he LGBT community continues to deal with isolation and discrimination, and OPALGA has from its establishment been able to provide programs which address these issues both for your members, and for the community at large which may not be well educated on these problems.”
We would like to thank both of these community institutions for the recognition of the hard work and dedication on the part of our staff, volunteers, and community members!
Two Fish Offers Stained-Glass Class to OPALGA Youth
Two Fish Art Glass (7401 W. Madison St., Forest Park IL) owners and partners Cecilia Hardacker and Tonya Hart have offered to sponsor 12 young adults from OPALGA’s drop-in programs for a five-week stained-glass class including instruction and all materials. This is the second class that Two Fish has offered to our young people, and it is a great opportunity for art instruction as well as camaraderie and the ability to observe successful gay business owners in action. We want to thank Cecilia and Tonya for their generosity and to remind people to visit the Two Fish Scratch and Dent sale on Saturday, June 7—get there early, items go fast!
ALAS Awarded Grant for Retreat
Amigos Latinos Apoyando Siempre (ALAS) has received a grant to fully support their Second Annual Latino Men’s Retreat. You may recall our solicitation of funds for last year’s retreat—the first—which received overwhelming support from our membership. This year, we applied for a grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health Center for Minority Health Services, who will serve as a cosponsor for this event. This year’s event will be held in Illinois, and we hope to expand on our success in 2007.
Spectrum Begins Partnership with Merit Hospice
In April, Spectrum begins a volunteer partnership with Merit Hospice in Lombard. Spectrum is going to create blank cards for the organization to have on hand to send to families who have lost a loved one. This will be a great opportunity to assist a community organization and to have our young people learn more about community service. We would like to thank OPALGA member Bob Stoner, who is the bereavement coordinator at Merit Hospice, for thinking of us.
National Day of Silence to Be Observed
Did you know that Friday, April 25, is the National Day of Silence? This event is held in schools nationwide to bring awareness to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment, and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers observe the entire school day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT students and their allies face every day. This year’s event is in memory of Lawrence King, a California middle-school student who was killed by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. For more information on the National Day of Silence, visit www.dayofsilence.org.’
