In May of 2023, Sarah Dudek created a beautiful print in response to the ongoing attacks on Trans Rights across the country. We bought one of the prints for the store and were thrilled to participate in a community printing event of Sarah's art in June benefiting the Trans Emergency Fund of Massachusetts.
Sarah Dudek's Instagram post put it so well, "Gender is hard. Not for everyone, but for some of us. And for a lot of kids, it just got much harder. Please, please, lend a hand to fight for Trans Rights. Listen. Be a safe space for the young people (and old people!) you know. Speak words of support, and follow them up with loving actions. Treat fellow human beings with respect and kindness. Make a donation if you have the means. Volunteer."
We reached out to Sarah to ask if we could recreate her artwork as an embroidery pattern and she generously agreed. Sarah's original piece features thick "marker" style lines which we thought might be too epic of a satin stitch embroidery piece so we used thinner lines and layered stitches. This embroidery pattern was created to further assist with our Inman Square Craftivist fundraising efforts for the Trans Emergency Fund.
In coordination with the pattern release we have also chosen the Trans Emergency Fund of Massachusetts as our September We Care Wednesday recipient. Founded in 2008, by Jesse Pack later joined by Chastity Bowick, Transgender Emergency Fund is the only organization dedicated to supporting low income and homeless Transgender individuals in Massachusetts. The Transgender Emergency Fund assists with homelessness prevention, shelter assistance, nutrition assistance, prescription co-pay assistance, transportation and escort to medical appointments, etc. All services are contingent on the availability of funds. The Transgender Emergency Fund is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and is operated solely on donations. TEF is asking the community for help raising $200,000 in Fiscal Year 2024 to continue their ongoing services providing critical assistance to low income transgender and gender nonconforming individuals and to support the second year of their Transitional Housing Program.
*Since launching the We Care Wednesday initiative in January 2017 we have donated over $72,918 to a variety of nonprofits and mutual aid funds doing essential work in our community as well as other places. From the Mayor's Disaster Fund to BAGLY to Movement Voter Project and Found In Translation. We select organizations that we feel represent not only our commitment to a better, more equitable world but also our desire to "do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."