A Leather Day of Caring Worldwide

[WriterDom]

thought I'd pass this along.


"One Day Can Make A Difference;
One Deed Can Change the Course of History"
Jill Carter, 11.3.2002


Karen McGee, MsWL 2003 and the MsWL Organization in a combined effort are calling on our Leather Community across the world to take one day to make a difference. We are requesting of our Pansexual family, tribe, brothers, sisters, clubs, organizations and individuals of the Leather community to care for the homeless specifically those with aids in your own communities.

It is Karen's and the MsWL organization's vision that we as a
community set aside our differences, conflicts, bickering and
political views for one day and unite in our kinky lifestyles to make a difference. We say we are a community of loving beings. Together let us provide food, clothing, blankets, personal care products, and repairs what have you to an array of homeless people of all ages and races who may be living right outside our back doors.

We are targeting Saturday, April 19, 2003, (Easter Weekend) to be the day when we as a community bond in deeds across the world. Do something, anything to assist the homeless who may be living right outside your door on your curbs, on your streets, in your alleys or a battered and almost bankrupted shelter, in your own community.

We can't all give money.
We can't all hold titles, or even want to.
We can't all be activists,
But we all can unite in our kink and practice what we preach!
We are a community about caring and loving, though differently.
We [as a community] have a magnanimous passion for LIFE.
Saturday, April 19, 2003, one day, let us mend our bridges and build new ones. Let us bond together as no other group can and support Karen's chosen cause and passion, assisting the homeless some with aids, some without across the world.

This year the tattered red ribbon that drapes the MsWL logo
symbolizes not only Karen's cause, but also the state of our world. We can't change the world in a day, or stop the random acts of senseless violence, but together we can try to better a few lives.

Just remember "you do not have to be a titleholder to make a
difference". A can of food, a blanket, a piece of clothing, a few
simple repairs in a shelter home can make a world of difference.
Join us. Make it happen in your community.

Go to www.msworldleather.com to learn how you can participate in this vision of….

A Leather Day of Caring Worldwide!
Easter Weekend, Saturday, April 19, 2003


Thank you,

Karen McGee, MsWL 2002 and The MsWL Organization

PS

Also, join us, August 8 – 10, 2003 in Dallas for Ms World Leather
2003.

 

[MissTaken]

What can you do?

Copied and pasted from the article. IMHO, it isn't asking too much!

Understand who the homeless are.


Respect them as individuals, give them the same respect you would anyone.


Respond with kindness, try a kind word

Taking time to talk to a homeless person in a friendly, respectful manner can give them a wonderful sense of civility and dignity. And besides being just neighborly, it gives the person a weapon to fight the isolation, depression and paranoia that many homeless people face.


Carry fast food certificates.

We've all been panhandled for change to buy a cup of coffee or get a bite to eat. If you're like most, you've been suspicious from time to time, wondering what the money was really for. By carting fast food certificates your not ignoring someone who's in need, and you know your funds are used for food.


Know where your homeless shelters, food banks, and soups kitchens are located.

To find shelters and transitional housing programs in your community, look in the Yellow Pages of your phone book under Social and Human Services or Volunteer Services.


Give your time.

"Adopt" one charity and make regular or yearly donations; give to annual drives (United Way, local food drives, etc.); help support neighborhood programs to aid the homeless (shelters, soup kitchens, transitional housing, counseling, services,

 

[lark sparrow]

Thanks for the reminder WD.

I tend to find myself immersed in homeless people, as SF is a very transient city with over 6,000 identified homeless people, and we have some of the most liberal policies around for them. We actually have a program that gives out up to $500 a month in cash to homeless people, beyond their foodstamps and free medical care - it's estimated about $40,000 goes to the care and upkeep of each individually, annually.

I kid you not, no, I'm not exaggerating, walking three blocks without being asked for money or a cigarette at least once if not a few times, is nearly impossible in my neighborhood. The alley outside my bedroom window is a favorite place for the homeless to shoot drugs, sleep and unfortunately, yes, go to the bathroom.

I've bought several people some food when they were polite and didn't seem to feel I owed it to them, and occasionally give out the odd bit of change, but I have also been harrassed for money, beyond simple begging, more times then I care to recount. There are some very seriously scary drug-addicted and severely mentally ill homeless people walking around here - a kind word is probably asking for more trouble than I can handle. Although I have actually called an ambulance for one when he was foaming at the mouth out in the alley after overdosing.

Anyhow, it's good to see the larger picture. I hear Glide Memorial church needs over 500 turkeys for their homeless Thanksgiving feast - buying a turkey for donation is something I can do.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I hate to see people suffer, but this is too @#$^ much. The bleeding-heart left-i-zation of psychosexuality.

Fuck the homeless. Keep sex evil.

 

[lark sparrow]

lol well it's sad commentary on the state of affairs in urban centers, and probably seems highly insensitive to those who don't actually have homeless people in thier backyard, and I do mean literally...

but it gets extremely annoying to be asked for money at every turn, to walk out the back door to find that someone has crapped in the doorway, to sweep up used needles in front of the driveway in the alley, to be yelled at and threatened for 5 minutes at the bus stop because you wouldn't give the homeless guy a dollar in exchange for a bus pass he found, etc. Once their right to live as they wish starts to affect your right to live as you wish, the personal sensitivity really starts to break down.

And no, I am not speaking of people who find themselves through one event or another in trouble financially and needing help, but those who choose or are allowed to live on the streets... and in my backyard. What to you say to someone who just used your driveway as a bathroom and shooting gallery? Please, clean up after yourself next time, and have a nice day?

 

[rosco rathbone]

Free oral sex for the homeless. Now that's something I could support. A sexual soup kitchen for sexually disadvantaged youths. To make my lover blow a bum has always been a fantasy of mine and that is absolutely no joke.