Happy Pride Month and Happy Juneteenth!
Image Description: An illustration of a black person with long braided hair and bright yellow and green clothing, holding and waving a red, black and green-striped flag. Above the person, "June 19 Juneteenth" is written We hope you've had a wonderful time celebrating and reflecting. Here's what we've been up to this month so far & what's ahead for July!
Image Description: Silhouettes of arms and hands making different gestures such as "I love you" in ASL and the "rock on" symbol, "thumbs up" symbol and more. Each arm is a different shade of the rainbow and creates a gradient rainbow from left to right.
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Recent:
Look, Ma! We're on TV!
Image Description: A "pop up" image with a hot pink background, containing a clip art of a TV with a clip from our news story inside
Link to Spectrum News Video and Article Thank you to Michelle Alfini for coming out to Anderson and filming this great piece on Survivor Cards! If prompted to log in when trying to watch the video, you can just click the "ask later" button and the website will allow you to keep watching. Please share with your social media networks so we can continue to raise awareness of Survivor Cards, volunteering opportunities and opportunities to receive cards, and PTSD.
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Cincinnati VA Fulfillment
Image Description: The founder of Survivor Cards smiles and holds 100 cards in her arms. These cards were later mailed to the Cincinnati VA to distribute to their support group attendants. With your help and those in the community, we were able to send 100 cards to the Cincinnati Veteran's Affairs for their PTSD and sexual assault veteran survivors to distribute in their support groups. We will also be teaching their Fort Thomas support groups how to facilitate letter writing workshops during support group meetings, for survivors to exchange with each other in the future.
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Anderson SummerFest
Image Description: Our booth at SummerFest with a teal pop-up canopy, banner and tablecloth on a table, as well as a purple tablecloth on a table. Resources and stationery, as well as information about Survivor Cards was out on display for use. We had a blast getting to know even more of our community at the Anderson SummerFest on Saturday, June 4th at the Anderson Towne Center. Thank you to everyone for coming out, whether you just met us today or have volunteered before! We had a wonderful time spreading our message, resources and smiles. We appreciate you. We were especially amazed by the collaboration between kids and adults, and friends to make cards together! We’re so glad some of you enjoyed utilizing the prompt papers, too!
Image Description: Community members who visited our booth volunteer to write cards for upcoming fulfillments
Image Description: Cards and drawings collected at Anderson SummerFest
Image Description: A card created at our booth at Anderson SummerFest
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Walleyes for Wounded Heroes
Image Description: The logo for Walleyes for Wounded Heroes. The logo is a black circle with a green fish in the middle. It has various first responders silhouettes over top of it, including fire, EMS, police and military.
We had a last minute fulfillment need pop up for the beginning of June and it was a challenge we welcomed with open arms! 130 cards were created by volunteer writers to be distributed at Walleyes for Wounded Heroes' annual fishing retreat for wounded veterans and first responders living with PTSD. The cards will be distributed during their 3 day excursion on Lake Erie, where veterans and first responders, such as EMS, police, fire, etc. will be provided with free fishing opportunities, lodging, food and entertainment, as well as "survivor bags" with goodies like our cards, resources and more! An on-site therapist who is also a purple-heart recipient will be there for anyone in need of a listening ear or time to talk. This event is open to anyone referred by an individual or agency OR self-referrals can be done! More info can be found here for those interested in learning more or referring someone to attend! It is open to folks in all 50 states.
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Ongoing Card Collection for Kaleidoscope Youth Center
Image Description: The logo for Kaleidoscope youth Center. It is a spiraled rainbow with the modern rainbow flag that is trans-inclusive and inclusive to people of color. The center has small, geometric people in a circle. We are currently collecting cards for the Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a drop-in center and resource for LGBTQIA+ youth based out of Columbus, OH. Kaleidoscope Youth Center in Columbus, OH is the largest and longest-standing organization in Ohio solely dedicated to serving and supporting queer youth. One of their most amazing services is an in-person and virtual drop-in center with daily programming for queer youth ages 12-20, equipped with a kitchen with food, wi-fi for doing homework, discussion groups for peer connections and more! They also have Community-Based Wellness Programs to reduce homelessness and housing insecurity of LGBTQIA+ youth, as well as a rapid-rehousing program and supportive co-housing. Your cards will be distributed to LGBTQIA+ youth who visit their drop-in center and/or are engaged with their Community Based Wellness programs, who have survived trauma. If you'd like to write cards for this fulfillment or future fulfillments, please email us at survivorcards@gmail.com Our hope is to finalize collecting cards by the end of July
-- LGBTQIA+ Education, Trainings and Resources
Image Description: A photo of an open book, a cup of writing utensils and a stack of closed books. The background is a chalkboard with various equations written on it in chalk.
If you follow us on social media, you may have seen us share some trainings and continuing education opportunities for LGBTQIA+ knowledge. Just in case, we wanted to share some of these here in case you missed them! One of our goals for this year is to occasionally share resources and trainings for those who wish to become more trauma-informed at a whole and better educated about various marginalized communities that experience trauma at higher rates. Safe Zone - If you’re looking for a free, self-guided, online, beginner’s LGBTQIA+ awareness and ally training, we suggest Safe Zone.It’s a great starter tool for employers, organizations and individuals alike! They also have follow-up reading on their website, like TransWhat? and Breaking Through the Binary: Gender Explained Using Continuums. All materials are easy even for those just starting out and easily digestible - Can be taken anytime, anywhere! Crisis Response and Suicide Prevention in the LGBTQ+ Community - Examining Policy and Practice Trends in the LGBTQ+ Community Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 1:30 PM "Pride Month is more than just an observance. It’s a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come in meeting the health care needs of the LGBTQ+ community and how much further we need to go. Join this cross-Interest Group (Crisis Response, Substance Use, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Children, Young Adults and Families, and LGBTQ+) collaborative effort to explore mental health and substance use conditions and wellbeing in the LGBTQ+ community, and the latest clinical practices and policies including crisis response and suicide prevention."
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What's Next?
Image Description: A teal blue square with black bold font that reads "Help Us Decide What's Coming Next" In the top right and bottom left corner are small sparkles.
We are currently working to identify our July and August individual and group recipients and would love to hear from you!
We would love to connect to an organization or grassroots group that serves survivors of trauma currently impacted and effected by the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and the passing of Heartbeat Bill in Ohio.
If you know of anyone working with survivors who receive abortion services, please let us know! Email us at survivorcards@gmail.com and let us know your thoughts!
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We would also love to put on more letter writing volunteer opportunities, whether it's a volunteer hour for employers and their employees, youth groups, places of worship, or just gathering individuals interested in writing cards at the local library's meeting room.
Would this be something you're interested in? Let us know!
The Anderson Library branch has a wonderful meeting space, with A/C, and we can provide water, snacks and supplies, we just need writers!
- As always, we are offering free facilitation with nonprofit organizations interested in learning how to do letter writing workshops with their survivor clientele at support groups, retreats, etc.
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Lastly, are there any resources you'd like to see added to our Resources page? We are hoping to add more and could use your feedback to see how this space can be evolved! As a reminder, our Writing Tips can be accessed here, while our downloadable and printable PDFs can be found here!
Thank you!
-- Once again, thank you for reading and for your amazing support, as we continue to touch the lives of survivors everywhere.
Don't forget you can sign up for our newsletter and get sneak peaks of volunteer opportunities and behind-the-scenes updates on Survivor Cards well before they hit our blog.
Just go to our home page and scroll down to the bottom to enter your email and subscribe.
- If you have questions, concerns or information, please e-mail us at survivorcards@gmail.com
- Alyson