News

Volunteer with our Review Subcommittee in 2021

Ever felt like volunteering, but not sure where to begin?

Rainbow Foundation of Hope (RFOH) relies on community support to help us review grant applications from our National Partners.

They are Canadian registered charities leading projects and programs for LGBT+ refugees and newcomers (i.e., SOGIE migrants) through three RFOH funding streams:

Refugee private sponsorship applicants (also known as Circles of Hope through Rainbow Refugee)
Newcomer and refugee community resettlement support programs
LOUD Foundation of Hope scholarships in partnership with the Gay & Lesbian Business Association of B.C., or LOUD Foundation

Whenever RFOH receives a new application, we draw upon a growing database of community volunteers on our Review Subcommittee to review and evaluate each application.

The process provides transparency and accountability of our grant administration process to volunteers and donors.

Commit whatever time you can. Each application is based purely on your interest and availability. We look for a minimum of two (2) community representatives outside of the RFOH Board of Directors to help with a goal of 50% community representation.

Over 30 volunteers have helped us with the review process to date. Message us at volunteer@strutvancouver.ca and we’ll happily add you to our growing list.

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Mawlana: giving back to the cause for safe migration

Raphaël and Galilio are a gay couple who fled persecution from their home countries to Turkey before coming to Canada as asylum seekers. In March 2020, they opened up Mawlana, a small boutique shop on Granville Island named after the Sufi poet Rumi. They sell handmade cashmere, silk scarves, shoes, soap, jewelry, and other accessories. Many of these goods were made by women in a refugee community in Turkey. The concept of Mawlana reflects not only their culture, but also the cultures of the people they left behind.

Unfortunately, Mawlana had to close weeks after opening in March due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, this did not dampen Raphaël and Galilio’s enthusiasm to succeed in Canada, their new home. They are resilient and worked nonstop to take thousands of pictures of their products to facilitate online sales. Mawlana is now open for shopping both online at www.mawlana.ca and in-store at Granville Island (1670 Duranleau St, Vancouver).

This holiday season, Mawlana will be donating 10% of the proceeds from their rainbow soap box sales to the Rainbow Foundation of Hope so we can continue helping refugees and asylum seekers like Raphaël and Galilio. These beautiful soap boxes contain soaps of all the colours of the rainbow and represent the beautiful, vibrant community that we all love. We at Rainbow Foundation of Hope will definitely be doing our holiday shopping at Mawlana. We hope that everyone will consider paying a visit, whether physically or virtually, this holiday season to support a beautiful and local refugee-owned business that embodies true strength and resilience. Thank you to Raphaël and Galilio for your compassion and generosity. This is why we have hope.

Happy PRIDE from all of us to all of you!

Rainbow Foundation of Hope wishes everyone in our community and all our allies a wonderful Pride in 2020. Whether you are a donor or an administrator of this work, we are all volunteers.

Every bit of effort matters. Donations are critical to the ongoing work and essential to its success. Whether you support this cause as a private sponsor, lead a resettlement program as community service provider, or raise funds to continue the work, you are instrumental to the movement.

Canada is viewed as a sanctuary for SOGIE migrants. In such a time of uncertainty with the global pandemic, queer folks facing persecution are especially disadvantaged and vulnerable.

They need us more than ever.

Consider joining this movement and volunteer with us. It is as easy as making a donation.

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LGBT+ displaced persons and the global pandemic

Imagine having to be on the run from your family and having nowhere safe to run.

No place to hide, and no reprieve from the fear of violence, persecution, public shaming, and even the fear of losing your life, simply because of who you are. Imagine seeking salvation from violence through the local police or protective services, only to find them to be firmly on the side of your oppressors, further ensuring the only place to live is on the extreme margins of society.

And imagine this is your reality, simply for being who you are.

This is the situation countless members of the LGBT+ community face while trying to survive in some of the 72 countries around the world that still criminalize same-sex intimacy and/or sexual identity.

These are not far away lands or countries on the other side of the world. Take Jamaica, for example. This is a country in the Western hemisphere that still criminalizes and marginalizes homosexuality. Members of the LGBT+ community still face sexual and physical violence and imprisonment in Jamaica. Reports of mob attacks against individuals, simply for being gay, are not uncommon.

Even today, such laws persist in places like St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. They allow for up to 10 years in prison for “buggery” and “indecency.” Our neck of the woods still has a lot of work to do.

More than ever, effects of people not being able to flee persecution due to the pandemic have come to the forefront.

Recently, one of our main community partners in Toronto, Rainbow Railroad has highlighted the effects that COVID-19 on those fleeing violence around the world, as well as new challenges they face with lockdowns and border closings.

Many repressive state authorities in some of these 72 countries are using this time during the pandemic to target LGBT+ folks seeking out an dignified existence. Many are already forced into camps or the sex trade once they flee their homes and cities. They find it ever harder to escape.

COVID-19 has enabled new forms of repression by some local authorities forcing LGBT+ folks into especially egregious circumstances.

UGANDA: “Under the guise of lockdown restrictions, authorities raided an LGBTQI shelter and arrested 23 people on March 29. We know for certain they were arrested under false pretenses, and they are still being detained.” – Rainbow Railroad

A recent report by ABC News highlighted the detaining of LGBT+ individuals during the pandemic.

As Rainbow Road highlights, there is a network of organizations and people around the world providing these reports and acting to assist in the efforts of finding salvation.

Rainbow Foundation of Hope remains committed to fundraising, bringing awareness to these issues, and supporting organizations that assist LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees fleeing violence and persecution.

To donate, please visit us here.

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A STRUT through 5 years of giving and 50 years of freedom

Who knew back in the summer of 2014 that STRUT would bring in over a quarter of a million dollars in just five short years?

Well, we did.

That’s because of the unwavering vision and enthusiasm of Carl Meadows, a champion of the cause for safe migration of LGBT+ refugees. Carl brought a small group of committed citizens together to change the world.

Sound familiar? It should. Last year FOH made its 4th annual STRUT walk, which coincided with 40 years of celebrating Pride in Vancouver. This year, our 5th STRUT walk coincided with 50 years of decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada and brought in over $50,000.

It is certainly a great trajectory and FOH’s prospects for growth and expansion are even better with some exciting new partnerships we will be rolling out in the coming months.

One such partnership is with the UNHCR, a global body established to identify and address the worldwide refugee crisis. This year FOH was invited to participate in UNHCR’s global awareness campaign. It was the perfect complement to the funds we raise locally with the collective distance we would walk in solidarity through STRUT.

Along with over $50,000 in funds raised, FOH saw 74 participants walk together in collective total of 119 km this year. Over the past five years, that amounts to 552 participants and 840 km, which can now be added to the 2 Billion Kilometres to Safety campaign.

Funds raised through STRUT will continue to go directly into grants awarded to Canadian charities working to resettle SOGIE migrants, but this was an opportunity for our local grassroots movement to go even further and contribute to a global awareness movement to #StepWithRefugees worldwide.

The fresh injection of donor funds can now be used to support the six grant applications led by our community partners in Vancouver and Toronto. These are currently under review for both LGBT+ refugee private sponsorship support and newcomer community service projects.

The timing was also just right for STRUT this year, falling on the heels of the announcement by the Government of Canada to expand its support for LGBT+ private resettlement efforts. Thanks to the work of the Rainbow Coalition for Refuge , the ongoing consultations that have persisted since 2017 with Global Affairs Canada and IRCC are finally paying off!

Private resettlement support of LGBT+ individuals facing persecution worldwide will involve a five-year extension of the Rainbow Refugee Assistance Program (RRAP) and an expanded $800,000 funding commitment. Rainbow Refugee founder Chris Morrissey came to make the announcement about the RRAP before participants strutted their stuff on the seawall.

Our community partners that benefit from FOH grants showed up in teams, including MOSAIC, Qmunity, and VAST, along with members from numerous Circles of Hope and corporate teams led by TELUS and TD Bank.

We are ever grateful for all the corporate sponsors and partners that came onboard, old and new. These include the 2019 platinum partner TELUS and platinum sponsor Hootsuite, as well as the supportive partnerships with Ruby Blues Winery, DJ Krista, Fountainhead, Glacier Media, Portable Electric, and Innocent Ice Cream.

Of course we cannot go without acknowledging our faithful long-standing contributors that include TD Bank, Pacific Alps Retirement, Kevin Perra Realty, PI Financial, Fluevog Shoes, Body Energy Club, and Andrew Beckerman.

Special thanks also go out to Squamish Elder Byron Yususultxw Longclaws and Hlgu Ni’is Yu’us (Terry Azak) of Nisga’a Nation for their annual opening welcome and blessing. We also thank Miss Gloria Hole and Miss Mina Mercury of Tuck Entertainment for the spectacular performance. Thanks to Christopher Hunte and Barb Snelgrove, respectively, for their continual support with the event programming and for hosting the affair. Big thanks as well to Jay Brotherton at HIM (those legs!) for leading the warm up event.

We are so grateful to welcome Outook TV as a dedicated LGBT+ media partner and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are an unmistakable presence year upon year. Tremendous thanks to Brian Houle for his incredible photography.

And of course, we are so fortunate for all the donors, volunteers, and STRUT walkers who took the time to support this cause and raise the funds that enable safe migration of LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees worldwide.

They need us more than ever.

Well, we did.

In the words of Carl Meadows, it truly does take a village.

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