Welcome to December! Here’s what we’ve been up to in November - 

We received £2,566 from113 financial contributors, and we spent £3,423. Our current balance is £11,446.

This month, we shared Darcie’s GoFundMe to help her access hormones. Please consider donating here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-darcie-get-hormones 

June Bellebono (@junebellebabe) wrote a piece in @novaramedia titled “How Mutual AId is Reaching its Limits for Transgender People in the UK.” You can read the piece including input from trans mutual aid group members (including Shash!) here: https://novaramedia.com/2022/11/03/how-mutual-aid-is-reaching-its-limits-for-transgender-people-in-the-uk/ It focuses on the impact mutual aid groups have had and the hardship we face in continuing our work with limited support. We are incredibly thankful to the support and solidarity we receive from @WelshUGN @BLMCardiff and @PantherodY .

On 3rd November, we were named on the shortlist for the award for Trans Charity by @TransITCUK and @Google . We won the award on 14th November during Trans Awareness Week!!! Shash have a speech which you can watch here: https://twitter.com/PinkNews/status/1592480495396610048 As Shash said, “Trans people are dying, platitudes won’t bring them back, platitudes won’t pay our rent, platitudes won’t feed us, and platitudes won’t save us.” Thank you to @PinkNews for covering the event! 

At the end of Trans Awareness Week, trans pride flags provided by @thequeeremporiu were spotted across the entire city. Thank you to TQE and for those who displayed flags to show solidarity and resistance against terf events! 

At the beginning of the month, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (@lgsmigrants) held a donation to support a solidarity demonstration for people being detained by the British government in Manston detention camp. Thanks to support, they smashed their donation goal to get everyone out to Manston! Extra funds will be donated to SOAS Detainee Support and the Solidarity Knows No Borders Network. You can find more information about Manston and deportations here: https://linktr.ee/nodeportations 

On 12th November, we held our monthly Newport meetup! As a reminder, this is a meetup held on the 2nd Saturday of each month from 2-5PM and is a free sober social for trans, intersex, and nonbinary people. Thank you to our attendees and hosts, looking forward to them coming back in the new year! 

On 20th November, we held a Trans Day of Remembrance event at the National Cardiff Museum. Thanks to @notaphaseorg, we were able to provide free tickets, refreshments and the ever amazing @queeremporium provided LED candles. The solidarity in the room was amazing, and seeing all those candles lit really had such an impact on the team. The speakers really did an amazing job, and we’re so proud of all of them.

On 21st November, we held our monthly Geek Retreat Cardiff event and on the 25th November, we held our monthly Big Splash event sponsored by @notaphaseorg Was great seeing everyone! We’ll be pausing both these events until the new year now, so keep an eye out in January for their return!

Here’s what’s ahead: 

@WrexhamUG is doing some amazing work providing food for the community! The holidays are always an especially hard time of the year, and they’ve been providing toys and games to help out. If you would like to donate, you can go to their GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-fund-our-wrexham-free-food-events?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer or email [email protected] You can also purchase items through their Amazon wishlist here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/17H29GM7UXUTS?ref_=wl_share 

Resonant will be hosting Queermas in aid of Trans Aid Cymru on Tuesday, 13th December! Looks like a stellar line-up and you can get tickets here: https://premier.ticketek.co.uk/shows/show.aspx?sh=QUEERMAS22 

We are having a festive meetup with food, cake, and party games on the 17th! Thank you so much to everyone who donated to support the event! Extra funds will go directly into our mutual aid pot to support trans folks during winter.

Here are some resources:

@aktcharity have a resource with information on local and national financial and food support. Check it out here: https://www.akt.org.uk/blog/cost-of-living-resources-food?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=colc&utm_content=20221102&sf172439128=1 

As a reminder, we offer surgery recovery packs! They are free for trans, intersex, and nonbinary people who undergo gender affirming surgeries. Find out more and apply for a pack here: https://transaid.cymru/our-projects/#surgerypack 

Looking for ways to support us? Join @alex_arkeonerd by helping us cook and deliver meals to trans, intersex, and nonbinary people! Find out more here: https://transaid.cymru/our-projects/#mealsharescheme 

Want to support isolated folks over the Festive Season? Donate to @TransFitter ‘s GoFundMe here to support distribution of hampers: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lgbtq-festive-hamper-fundraiser-2022?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet 

Did you know you can request a free, confidential HIV (and other sexually transmitted diseases) testing kit via post? Find out more here: https://www.friskywales.org/wales-sti-testing-kit-test-and-post.html 

Finally, as a reminder, we will be taking a sustainability break from 15th December - 2nd January. We have not had a break since we started during Covid! We will not be contactable during that time. Grants won’t be distributed until the new year, so if you do apply, please include your bank details. If it is your first grant, please also include the first half of your postcode and a link to one of your social media profiles. If you need anything, please contact the LGBT Foundation helpline via their website or their number (03453 303030) or via email: [email protected]