RSVP to Michael Childers at mchilders@pridecenterflorida.org.

Over 50 LGBT-friendly medical, professional, support and financial providers in the fields of healthcare, aging, and geriatrics will showcase their services and products, including information and resources concerning senior living facilities, insurance coverage, home health care agencies, legal issues, and a wide assortment of other areas affecting seniors.

In addition, free flu shots and medical testing for hearing, sight, cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, HIV, and other conditions will be available. The expo also will feature a variety seminars focused on the needs of the LBGT senior population.

More than 50 local businesses displayed contribution bins in their offices for the month of July to collect school supplies. Major sponsors included the Pride Center at Equality Park, Women In Network, and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Gay and Lesbian Business Exchange (GLBX), which organized the largest collection drive of all partners in the “Stuff the Bus” event.

The sixth largest school district in the nation, Broward County has more than 172 Title 1 schools, with more than 52 percent of the families struggling to equip their children for the new school year. According to the foundation, teachers spend an average $1,000 of their own personal funds to help equip their classrooms.

For more information, visit browardedfoundation.net.

When Robert Boo was Director of Development for what was then called the Gay and Lesbian Community Center (GLCC) of Fort Lauderdale, he added a number of important programs, working in tandem with thenexecutive director Paul Hyman, who had served in that post for nearly a decade. Boo left his position to work in the private sector in Miami, but somehow, that just didn’t work for him. When Hyman decided to return to his native New York, Boo thought the time was ripe for his own kind of return. Hired to succeed Hyman as Executive Director of the nowbranded Pride Center at Equality Park, he found a whole new “beast” waiting for him.

“With the move to the new campus (located at 2040 North Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors), there were a number of changes, and lots of additional programs that we were offering with increased services,” Boo explains. “I knew that I was going to have some very big shoes to fill, as Paul had done an incredible job. Of course, coming back to a non-profit in this economy is not easy. People have had to tighten purse strings at a time when we are expanding service,” he notes. “I can’t see us cutting our services—there are too many people who depend on us.”

One of the Pride Center’s biggest “nuts” is its Capital Campaign, which Boo says is the agency’s efforts “to raise money to help pay off the mortgage, so that we can once again increase our service potential.” Enter local pharmacist Ken Goss, who moved here several years ago from Boston, where he had served on the board of a non-profit, The Attic. “When I moved here, I wanted to get involved,” Goss relates. “I went to the [Pride Center], and saw the incredible work they were doing. One of the first projects that I was involved with was acquiring backpacks for underprivileged kids.”

Goss’ work with the Pride Center inspired him—in his own words—to “really get more involved with the community.” Just how involved wasn’t apparent until he called the agency’s new executive director and requested a meeting. Goss said he wanted to present the Pride Center with a check for its Capitol Campaign—in the amount of $50,000. Boo says that he was in a state of shock.

On Sunday, September 30, Boo and the Pride Center will hold an invitation-only brunch, to say “Thank You” to Goss, and to the board of directors of the agency. “If it were not for having a working board, so much of the services we provide would have to be curtailed,” Boo says with emphasis.

“I never want to see that happen.” For more information on the Pride Center at Equality Park’s Capital Campaign, or its many community services, visit pridecenterflorida.org.

If your non-profit organization is not listed in the Agenda Non-Profit Services Directory, please send your information to Dale Madison at
dalemadison@guymag.net.

Dale Madison

The non-profit Florida Diversity Council was established in 2008, with a mission to establish and disseminate best practices, and to establish and promote policies that foster diversity and inclusiveness. It has regional chapters in Jacksonville, Orlando, Southwest Florida, Tampa Bay, and South Florida. The GFLGLCC is a 501 C (6) Non Profit organization, which promotes business and economic opportunities for the LGBT and LGBT-friendly community.

For more information and online registration, visit glbtsummit.com.

WILTON MANORS, FL – Women in Network (WIN) will hold a Monday Night Women’s Group every Monday at 7 p.m. at The Pride Center at Equality Park, room 206, 2040 Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors. This meeting is a place where women can come and make friends, talk about lesbian issues, feel safe, come out, get support from other women, laugh, have fun and perhaps meet your future partner.

It is a great way to spend a Monday night. Only $4.00 for an evening of women. For more information, email: monday4women@gmail.com.

The LGBT Senior Expo will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 22 at The Pride Center at Equality Park, 2040 N Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors. The event will provide LGBT Seniors with a comprehensive overview of healthcare services available to benefit the elder LGBT community. The event will feature a trade show with various LGBT-friendly medical, professional and financial services providers, who are eager to assist our community. Please RSVP to the Florida Assisted Living Coalition (please provide name and contact telephone number) at 800-939-2650.

For more information, contact Pride Center Deputy Director Kristofer Fegenbush at 954-463-9005 ext. 111.

an evening in paradise

An Evening in Paradise, a benefit for the Pride Center at Equality Park, will be held on Saturday, November 5 from
7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Paradise Point in  Fort Lauderdale. Open bar, great food, deejay and other entertainment, valet parking. Tickets are $100 per person (limited to 300 people so get your tickets early). For more information and to purchase tickets, go to www.glccsf.org.. Tickets will not be sold at the event. Special guests include Michael Holtz (Mr. Gay USA 2011) and Logan Voxx (Out 100 for 2011).

“GAY RIGHTS AND MORAL PANIC”

Florida Atlantic University LGBTQA Resource Center is holding a special event, “LGBT History at FAU and Beyond: An Evening with Dr. Fred Fejes” on Tuesday, October 25, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the FAU Student Union, Sugar Palm Room, sponsored by the LGBTQA Resource Center and Lambda United. There will be a lively discussion, presentation, book reading and signing with FAU Professor Fred Fejes, author of “Gay Rights and Moral Panic: The Origins of America’s Debate on Homosexuality” and FAU’s first advisor to Lambda United GLBTQIS Alliance.

MANORS MASQUERADE

Two Halloween events are being held on Sunday, October 30, in Hagen Park in Wilton Manors. From 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., “HOWL-O-Ween,” a Halloween party for your pets and their best friends. This event includes a pet expo, various pet activities, entertainment, trick or treat bags for people and their pets, food and beverages plus the highlight of the afternoon, a HOWL-o-Ween pet-costume contest starting at 2:30 p.m. Admission and parking in Hagen Park is free for this event. From 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Hagen Park is transformed into “OUTrageous Fantasy,” this year’s Manors Masquerade theme with DJ Roland Belmares. This event includes dancing, a lounge tent with food, beverages, raffle and café seating, and trick or treat bags. The costume contest will be judged by celebrity host and judge, fashion designer Jay Carroll, the winner of the first season of the television series, “Project Runway.” Admission is free, close-in VIP parking in Hagen Park is $10.

This health expo offers education and screening resources for lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (LBT) women of color, an underserved and at risk population for many health challenges.

This is an historic event as there has been no prior health promotion activity undertaken within Southeast Florida explicitly for this population. Federally-funded research has shown that LBT women experience barriers to health care which create many high risks including: breast cancer, gynecological cancers, heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes and impaired mental health.

Organizations which will offer health promotion education and screenings at the event include: Broward County Department of Health, Memorial Regional Hospital, Holy Cross Hospital, Broward Community and Family Health, YWCA Family Wellness Program, Community Life Support, The Beautiful Gate plus others.

The following are areas of specific focus:

1) breast and cervical cancer, 2) hypertension, 3) diabetes, 4) STDs and HIV infection.

In addition, alternative and complementary medicine practitioners will be present. Free clinical breast exams will be provided, as well as screening for HIV infection, plus blood sugar and cholesterol. As special opportunities, “stress busters” and self-defense workshops for women will also be presented.

All women are welcome to attend this event and receive health promotion information plus free prevention screening.

Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors. Here’s your chance to ask what you never dared to ask before and your chance to learn more and speak to people who are experts in reiki, psychic ability, yoga, acupuncture and more. Admission is $5 for WIN members and $10 for non-members.

YGMF is currently available on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, with the goal of grabbing the attention of young GBTQ males with these tragic addictions.

“I’m very excited about this new program because there are so many young men struggling with additions,” said Mitchell Jerus, Youth Coordinator running the YGMF Program. “We already have much of our online social networking programs in place and very soon we will have a peer counseling program both online and offline.

“These young men often feel alone with no one to talk to about their problems,” continued Jerus. “That’s why we’re here, so they know they’re not alone and that someone is there to help. We anticipate this program will be very successful and we’re using the slogan ‘Get Your Shine Back’ showing these young men that they can emerge from their dark places.

“Numerous indicators confirm problematic crystal methamphetamine use among some sexually active men who have sex with other men. GBTQ/MSM young people’s questions regarding sexual identity and sexual behavior need to be addressed. These young men need skills to address and resist using substances as they become exposed to new behavioral options in the gay community.”

“In my experience catering to LGBTQ youth and their families, many of the young men I’ve met that use crystal meth are young sex workers: dancers, go-go boys, adult film performers, escorts, etc.,” said Listron “Blue” Mannix, Expanding Testing Initiative Manger overseeing the YGMF program.

“We’re reaching out to other organizations that can help this program flourish and become the hope for a better future to others that it’s supposed to be,” concluded Jerus. “We feel that by collaborating with programs such as Meth and Men, the Sunserve Youth Group, MProject and other treatment centers, that young men struggling can get the help that they need and deserve.”

The core of this program is located at the Pride Center at Equality Park on Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors, or by going online to Facebook and looking for “YouthGay MethFree”.

For additional information, email youthmethfree@pridecenterflorida.org or call (954) 463-9005.