Donating to causes | June 2023

Seeing positive impact

Every couple of months, we follow up with the organizations we’ve donated to in the past to see how they are getting along – how the funds are being used, what stories they’ve shared, and to see what we can learn from them. A couple highlights are below.

The Support for the Club Q Families and Survivors fund grew much larger than expected. The original goal was $5K, but the current amount stands at over $934,000. The fund’s founder coordinated with an organization called the National Compassion Fund (NCF) to ensure the money was properly handled, so that all donations go directly to the families of victims.

The Zebra Youth Coalition maintains a calendar of events for youth community building and learning. Recent events include a Drag Race 5K, Art with Purpose, and Pride Prom.

The Appalachian Shakespeare Center will be performing their summer play, Julius Caesar, at Woodland Park and the EKU Ravine in July. Our contribution helped to provide a free weekend for the community – go check them out!

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Support

Over the past few months, we shared our support in the areas of food insecurity prevention, combating sexual violence, community arts and enrichment, and youth leadership.

These organizations are suggested, researched, and vetted by our team to ensure that the recipients are legitimate and values-aligned.

Click on the links below to explore the important work these organizations are doing.

• Neighborhood Community Fridge – A community fridge and pantry project. This is a mutual aid grassroots initiative aimed at combating food insecurity within underserved communities. It  involves setting up a network of public fridge(s) & pantries in a central location where locals can donate & access free food, and other essentials.
• Lamin Swann’s Funeral Arrangement (GoFundMe) – Rep. Swann was not only a dedicated public servant but also a beloved member of our community. This fund is to help his family with funeral arrangements.
• Ampersand Sexual Violence and Resource Center of the Bluegrass – A resource for anyone impacted by the spectrum of sexual violence. Ampersand envisions a world in which we recognize the impact sexual violence has on every individual and every community, and decide as one unit that it’s no longer acceptable.
• Walkout 2 Learn – A Florida grassroots org organizing and protecting students who participate in protest walkouts. Walkouts are accompanied by learning seminars focused on information that Florida legislation is working very hard to ban completely from the public school system, to the students’ detriment.
• Gus Bus – The Gus Bus is a community literacy and academic enrichment program for immigrant and underserved elementary school students in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Mediocre is sponsoring their Lucky Duck annual fundraiser.
• Impact Kids – We donated an outdoor sign for our next-door neighbors. Impact Kids is a positivity brand featuring kids books, merchandise, clothing and events.
• Box2Box – Box2Box promotes growth and positive experiences through selected after school programs in an inclusive, safe, and welcoming atmosphere. This donation was for printing vinyl decals for their transportation van.

See our full list of donations here. As always, if there’s a cause or organization that you’re passionate about, we’d love to hear about it!