Daily Donations: 6/6/2020 — (The John Walt Foundation — Feed the Westside, Texas Democrats, The Loveland Foundation)

Every day in June I’ll be making 3 donations — one to a cause in the immediate term, one to a cause in the medium term, and one to a longer term cause. If you’d like to get involved, let me know! I’d be more than happy to share ideas and take suggestions. You can find all of the causes I’ve donated to so far, HERE.

I’m hoping to be able to make a post on Medium every day that explains why I’ve chosen each of my causes, with a little bit of my research linked. Here are my causes today:

Immediate Term: The John Walt Foundation — Feed the Westside (UPDATE)

The John Walt Foundation was formed in 2017 to honor Walter Long Jr., aka “John Walt”, a Chicago-area musician after his tragic death. They place an emphasis on supporting and empowering local artists across a variety of different platforms, but also are active in other ways.

I chose them as my immediate term donation because of their project, “Feed the Westside”. Chicago has been hit hard by the pandemic and some of the unrest that has happened as a result of the current situation. Chicago’s crime and violence problem is well documented, but the current tensions of our country have exposed some of the underlying issues that have plagued the city for a long time — disparities in access to things like food and mandatory services, racial tensions (not just black/white), police brutality, and more.

Feed the Westside was a single day initiative to distribute groceries and necessary supplies to people who have been affected by the current situation, store closings, reductions in CTA access, and the increase in unemployment as a result of the pandemic. You can also learn about the issue of “food deserts” here, and how food deserts impact Chicago, specifically, here (the article provides maps that outline just how prevalent of an issue this is on the west and south sides).

You can donate to The John Walt Foundation here. However, they posted this afternoon that they’ve received enough donations for this project (woo!) and would prefer that donations go elsewhere.

Alternatively, you can donate to Thankful for Chicago.

Medium Term: Texas Democrats

Those of you who know me know that I’ve been living in Austin, TX for the past ~18 months. I had the amazing opportunity to see the groundswell of support in the city and the state for Beto O’Rourke’s US Senate campaign. Texas has come a long way, and while there has been a discussion about the state transitioning from a red stronghold to a state that could potentially become a battleground state, no one could have expected a performance like Beto’s last year.

The good news is that all the signs are pointing to the presidential election in November being equally as competitive. Recent rounds of polls have even shown that Joe Biden is tied/leading Donald Trump. This is INCREDIBLE:

Simply put, Donald Trump has no chance to continue his presidency, built on racism, hatred, and bigotry, without the state of Texas. However, it will be massively important to make sure that people are registered to vote and are able to get to the polls. If everyone votes, Trump doesn’t stand a chance.

These actions — registering people, raising awareness, community organizing, etc. — all take funds. For this reason, I’ve chosen my campaign donation to go to the Texas Democratic Party, to help with the massive organizing effort needed to defeat Donald Trump in Texas this November.

You can join me and donate to Texas Democrats here.

Long Term: The Loveland Foundation

Thanks to my friend Ellen P. for this recommendation! Mental health is something that is very important to both her and myself and this organization focuses on providing therapy for black women and girls. From Ellen:

The Loveland Foundation, founded by Rachel Cargle, provides mental health access for people of color, especially Black women and girls. The Loveland Foundation partners with Therapy for Black Girls, National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network, Talkspace and Open Path Collective to provide a range of “high quality, culturally competent” professionals for their participants. The Loveland Foundation fundraises to provide financial assistance to increase the accessibility of therapy and other mental health resources. They aim to provide 1000 women with free access to 4–8 therapy sessions in 2020. With all the current world events on top of the challenges faced by Black individuals in their everyday lives, therapy is such an important resource and should be widely and freely accessible.

Join us in supporting this org and donate to The Loveland Foundation here.