Annual Winter Fundraiser
Today the Clifton Pleasure Club kicks off our annual fundraising appeal – where we directly ask everyone we know to support our mission with your hard earned dollars! We strive to keep our prices for food and drink as low as possible so that everyone can access community whenever they need it, but just like yours, our expenses keep going up, faster now than ever before. If I might have a moment of your time, I’d like to share why YOUR support of our efforts is so important right now!
From Glenda, CPC Board Member at Large, Queer Activist, and Community Organizer since the days of phone trees, snail mail, and bootleg fliers copied at work after everyone else went home and posted in gay bars and women’s bookstores…
The news hit me hard – the current regime ‘canceling’ World Aids Day, not because we finally found a cure but because they don’t want to spend OUR tax money on anything that doesn’t directly benefit billionaires. And the news was bad yesterday, and last week, and every damn day as the rapid rise of fascism in our country destroys the little bit of progress LGBTQII+ folks and our allies have fought so hard for since the 1950s. I get so angry when I think of the countless hours of my time and the money I didn’t have that was donated to help our siblings as they suffered from both a deadly disease AND the stigma imposed by politicians who wouldn’t even say the word AIDS! I get so depressed watching the hard fought right to serve being stripped away from our trans friends who are willing to die for the freedoms others have taken for granted for far too long! My heart breaks as I chat with my friends who are terrified that their abusive ex will now get custody of the kids simply because they are queer and the judge who drew their divorce case is MAGA. It’s just tooooooo much!!!
And when I took all of this to my therapist and asked her what the heck am I supposed to do to protect my peace and have any chance at stable mental health in these very difficult times, her answer was immediate and clear: “YOU NEED CONNECTION WITH YOUR COMMUNITY!!!”
She then added that even when a person does everything that they can to take care of themselves; taking their meds, eating nutritious food, getting enough sleep and exercise, the missing piece is often that they need community, like-minded individuals and groups where they can be a part of something larger than themselves, where they can regularly connect in person. “People NEED PEOPLE!”
PEOPLE! People of like mind who want to live in a community that practices lifting each other up and provides mutual support when things are bad! People who listen without judgement because they have been through the same struggles. People who offer up their own hot shower when a family’s plumbing goes bad. People who buy a loaf of bread, that they are going to give to a neighbor, because someone needs to earn some coins for a car repair. People who donate to the mutual aid Feed it Forward program in celebration of their own life milestones. PEOPLE! QUEER PEOPLE and OUR ACCOMPLICES who are dedicated to thriving, not just surviving!
And THAT is exactly what you will find at the Clifton Pleasure Club – a group of folks dedicated to sharing face to face kinship and conversation while enjoying some of the most delicious food in town! Part Supper Club, Part Community Center, the CPC offers a space where community connections are treasured and people are paramount, not capitalism.
As you consider where to donate your funds this giving season, please choose our grassroots group that provides a place to find PEOPLE who will help us thrive against all odds and with whom we can enjoy the moments of QUEER JOY that fuel our resistance!
This year our very generous Secret Santa will be MATCHING all gifts up to $5000 so there has never been a better time to invest in the infrastructure that fosters the community we all need!
THANK YOU for doing your part to create the world we want to live in! Donations can be made using this link:
https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=EREZUA8TB3QS8
or in person any time you visit the Club from now until the end of the year. Please share widely wherever this message would be welcome – THANKS!
