Ferndale Pride organizers are giving back in a big way to local LGBTQ charities following the festival's biggest year yet.
On Monday, Oct. 22, Ferndale Pride chair Julia Music attended a Ferndale City Council meeting to present $21,000 in checks to five local LGBTQ charities. Since its establishment in 2011, Ferndale Pride has distributed more than $145,000 in unrestricted grants to local charities.
Music presented the first check of the night to the Ferndale Community Foundation for $11,000. As the festival's sponsoring organization, Music said FCF's team was crucial in the behind-the-scenes work that made Ferndale Pride possible.
"The Community Foundation is our fiduciary, they are the ones who sign over all the paperwork for Ferndale Pride," Music said. "Greg Pawlica volunteers a ridiculous amount of hours to make sure all the finances are done for Ferndale Pride, all the bills are paid, and is also there to support me when I have my many freak-outs."
Ferndale Pride also honored LGBTQ charities Affirmations, Gender-Identity Network Alliance, Matrix Human Services MAC Health and Transgender Michigan with $2,500 checks apiece.
Ferndale Pride 2018 proved to be the festival's biggest year yet with a record 25,000 people who visited the city in celebration. It also marked the event's biggest footprint, as festivities ran all the way from Woodward to Livernois.
At the podium, Music asked everyone in the audience who volunteered for Ferndale Pride to stand up.
"I want to recognize some of our volunteers," Music said. "As many of you know, almost everybody who works on Ferndale Pride is a volunteer, and many volunteers give anywhere from 20 to 100 hours. Many of the people you were just looking at are more at the 100-hour end of the spectrum."
City councilmember and FCF chair Daniel Martin took a moment to thank Music and her volunteers for their hard work on Ferndale Pride.
"To all the volunteers, but especially Julia, you have just knocked it out of the ballpark year after year after year with this event," Martin said. "We could not be prouder to be affiliated with you. You are a wonderful leader, and you've done tremendous work here, so thank you very much."
Ferndale Pride 2019 is already scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 1. In the meantime, Music said Ferndale Pride is looking to co-host a rally "early next week" around transgender visibility. While details are still in the works, Music hinted the event will respond to recent developments around the Trump administration's anti-transgender plan.
"We're trying to send some messages that transgender people can't be erased from our community," Music said.
For more information about Ferndale Pride, please visit ferndalepride.com or their Facebook page.
Ferndale Pride Gives Back $21,000 to Local LGBTQ Charities
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