By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
ANN ARBOR – On April 9, Ann Arbor's Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project celebrated ten years of service to the community at a benefit birthday party at Frenchie's in Ypsilanti's Depot Town.
In addition to celebrating the organization's past, celebrants, including WRAP President Jeremy Merklinger, are looking forward to an expanded future for WRAP.
According to Merklinger, WRAP began as a political action group which grew out of the Michigan Campaign for Human Dignity in 1995. In 1998, WRAP moved from its old meeting space in the basement of Common Language bookstore to its current Braun Court location.
The location wasn't the only thing that changed, as WRAP offered its space to organizations that lacked meeting space of their own.
Over the past few years, according to Merklinger, WRAP has become both a referral service and a focal point for political activity.
"We're sort of becoming a referral center to other organizations that do things," said Merklinger. "We try to help [people] find the resources [they] need. We're kind of morphing into a resource community center."
In addition, WRAP coordinated the area's response to the anti-family Proposal 2.
"Proposal 2 is a perfect example of why we need a place like WRAP," Merklinger said. "When the proposal came out, everyone said 'Don't worry about Ann Arbor,' so nobody was doing anything in Ann Arbor." To make sure that Washtenaw County wouldn't join with the rest of the state in discriminating against LGBT families, WRAP volunteers created their own brochures and lawn signs and coordinated literature drops in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and some outlying areas.
WRAP's service to the community hasn't ended there. According to Merklinger, the organization plans to sponsor more groups and broaden its influence in the greater Washtenaw County community as well.
Merklinger said that his organization is doing more outreach to a broader array of groups, including area families and women's groups. WRAP volunteers will also be at Hotter Than July in Detroit this year.
"We want to be more diverse in what we have to offer," said Merklinger, who also said that WRAP organizers plan to reach out beyond Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.
"As soon as you walk outside Ann Arbor you're not covered by the city's non-discrimination act," Merklinger said. "I think WRAP needs to be the driving influence that gets other residents of Washtenaw County to look at the bigger picture."
"I think it was great that Washtenaw County voted down Proposal 2, but if we'd been more prepared we could have had bigger numbers," Merklinger added. "We didn't do as much outreach to other Washtenaw County areas as we could have. We should have been more proactive, and we hope to be more prepared the next time that something like this comes up."
The April 9 event raised "around $3,000," Merklinger said, but WRAP still needs additional community support to reach its goal of becoming a resource center and political voice for LGBTs throughout Washtenaw County. For more information, to donate or to volunteer, contact WRAP at 734-995-9867 or visit them online at http://www.wrap-up.org.
