As you may know, Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities (PLC) has spearheaded multiple community level projects to support all of our neighbors. 

These include distributing Protect Trans Kids yard signs and stickers, establishing a pet food pantry for low income pet owners and cat colony caretakers, and assembling whistle kits to distribute to the community. 

The three version of our Gertie mascot, created by Joe Wos, reflect these priorities

We are an all-volunteer organization. We do not charge for our supports, relying instead on donations from our neighbors to ensure we can continue to meet these critical needs.

Today’s rulings from the Supreme Court have direct impact on our work and the people we serve. Affirming birth right citizenship is a positive win for immigrant neighbors. Allowing states to deny trans children the chance to participate in sport activities is awful. Pennsylvania’s trans and queer community is already disadvantaged by the lack of statewide nondiscrimination protections. Our state government has not successfully put protections in place. 

During these past months, we’ve faced significant challenges, most notably losing the storage space for our pet food pantry and other supplies. Once again, neighbors stepped in with resources. 

Right now, we need your financial support again so we can continue three successful projects. We are not going to stop resisting while our neighbors are hurting.

First, we will do another run of our Protect Trans Kids stickers to ensure this vital message and affirmation has wide exposure in the region. We partner with union shop Commonwealth Press.  That’s about $1500 to print 5,000 stickers. 

Second, we need to replenish supplies for the whistle kits. We purchase items through a local authentic hub, StayNebby.com and we need to cover their production costs for the materials because we are ordering in bulk quantities. We need $1000 to replenish these supplies and keep up with demand. Those funds go to creators of the materials and supplies. 

** We do not charge for either a sticker or whistle kit. We accept donations, but the goal is to get them circulating in the community.

Finally, we need to cover the costs of the pet food pantry that currently serves 300+ caretakers. We will now have to pay for storage short and long-term, replenish our inventory, and purchase additional items for our new location including shelving and security cameras.

In addition to people who register directly, we partner with nine mutual aid distros, distributing food to 110+ neighbors.  We also work with a street outreach team to distribute food to another 50 people.

Important to note that this storage, this location we call ‘The Ruff’ on the Northside will store ALL of our items – stickers, whistle kits, and more. 

As always, there are some administrative expenses – phone, website, printing, promotion, etc – that come with this work. 

These programs may seem disconnected, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In each Whistle Kit, we put a PTK sticker and a card about the pet food pantry. We distribute Whistle kits at Pride events. Our pet food distribution also includes the kits and the stickers. 

I was at a festival in Tionesta, Forest County. Someone saw my PTK tote bag that I use as a purse and their face lit up. I did not have stickers with me, something I regret. I’m glad we have that connection around identity, but the stickers take things one step further.

We continuously remind our program participants that the trans and queer communities are showing up for them without questions. 

Please consider a donation. 

$5.00 = ten whistle kits 

$10.00 = a five pound bag of cat or dog food

$15.00 = fifteen Protect Trans Kids stickers

$25.00 = a month’s distribution for a cat colony caretaker 

$50.00 = 100 whistle kits + postage to send to an outlying county

$100.00 = one month’s distribution of pet food for a local mutual aid distro

$150.00 = one set of shelving

$250.00 = one month of storage expenses

Our overall goal is $7500.

Learn more about our project at pghlgbtq.com 

Financial donations

GoFundMe Charities https://www.gofundme.com/f/PghCatFolxPetFoodPantry

Venmo @PittsburghLGBTQ

Paypal bit.ly/PayPalPLC 

CashApp $PittsburghLGBTQ‘=

Zelle folx@pghlgbtq.org

Checks can be made payable to “Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities” and mailed to 1439 W. North Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15233

We have two wishlists

• Chewy bit.ly/TheChewyList
• Amazon bit.ly/TheRuffList

Thank you for your support.