Continued Support Needed for Austen Hartke
Published on January 30, 2024 by Rev. Drew Stever
Hello Community,
For those who don't know Austen, he is the author of Transforming: The Bible and Transgender Christians, and most recently was the Executive Director and founder of Transmission Ministry Collective, which is an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender and gender-expansive Christians.
Recently, Austen resigned from his position from TMC and had a plan of taking a time of sabbatical to rest in order to prepare for his next adventure. That is - until a fire broke out at his apartment leaving him, his spouse and their dog temporarily displaced.
Through Koinonia, we have supported Austen by organizing a Pod of support for him during this transitional time. Part of the work of Austen's pod has been organizing and leading a fundraiser to help offset the financial burden that has come during this time. To do that, we created a project on our Open Collective for Austen to receive support.
In only the last week, contributors from all over have given over $3,000 between Open Collective and Venmo! That is so amazing. So hopeful. So miraculous.
But our work isn't done, Community. Austen has been an amazing community leader, giving his time, knowledge and care to so many of us in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. It's now our turn to give back to Austen.
In order to reach our goal of $10,000, we need each of you to share Austen's Open Collective project with friends, loved ones, colleagues, or even strangers who you know, or think you know have been impacted by Austen's leadership and care.
Please share this link with those in your community to help us get to $10,000 to support Austen. You can also give to Austen through his Venmo (@austenhartke). We've also attached images for those who would like to spread the word on social media.
We've made this much in this short amount of time. I'm excited to see what other miracle this community can come up with.
With gratitude,
Drew Stever
For those who don't know Austen, he is the author of Transforming: The Bible and Transgender Christians, and most recently was the Executive Director and founder of Transmission Ministry Collective, which is an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender and gender-expansive Christians.
Recently, Austen resigned from his position from TMC and had a plan of taking a time of sabbatical to rest in order to prepare for his next adventure. That is - until a fire broke out at his apartment leaving him, his spouse and their dog temporarily displaced.
Through Koinonia, we have supported Austen by organizing a Pod of support for him during this transitional time. Part of the work of Austen's pod has been organizing and leading a fundraiser to help offset the financial burden that has come during this time. To do that, we created a project on our Open Collective for Austen to receive support.
In only the last week, contributors from all over have given over $3,000 between Open Collective and Venmo! That is so amazing. So hopeful. So miraculous.
But our work isn't done, Community. Austen has been an amazing community leader, giving his time, knowledge and care to so many of us in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. It's now our turn to give back to Austen.
In order to reach our goal of $10,000, we need each of you to share Austen's Open Collective project with friends, loved ones, colleagues, or even strangers who you know, or think you know have been impacted by Austen's leadership and care.
Please share this link with those in your community to help us get to $10,000 to support Austen. You can also give to Austen through his Venmo (@austenhartke). We've also attached images for those who would like to spread the word on social media.
We've made this much in this short amount of time. I'm excited to see what other miracle this community can come up with.
With gratitude,
Drew Stever
