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RAINBOW FUND CELEBRATES AWARDS OF GRANTS TO
LGBT/HIV ORGANISATIONS WHO PROVIDE
FRONTLINE SERVICES TO LGBT COMMUNITY
Service users from the Clare Project, a project for
transgender people; MindOut, the LGBT Mental Health
Project; and Brighton GEMS, the Gay Elderly Men's
Society, explained how the services provided by the
groups were a lifeline for them in their everyday lives.
Their contributions were the highlight of the evening.
organisations are needed and services are not being
duplicated.
The Hilton Metropole donated the use of the
Regency Room for the night, along with tea and
coffee, Moshimo provided sushi, and Sonia Marmite
donated the sound system and lighting.
“Both myself and our chair (Maria) received the
invitation to the ceremony on November 13 – both
myself and Maria were unable to attend due to us both
having regular work commitments on Tuesday evenings
– unfortunately between November 15 and 25 I was
unwell and off sick from work and Maria was on holiday.
This meant that the invitation was not circulated
amongst our trustees, staff and volunteers until the day
before the event. At that point when I returned to work I
did my best to get somebody to represent us at the
event, however with such short notice no-one was
available to attend. Our non-attendance was therefore
purely circumstantial. As a small charity with very few
staff and relying on volunteers, capacity issues are sadly
a reality.”
PEER ACTION
BRIGHTON GEMS
LUNCH POSITIVE
ALLSORTS
In his opening speech, Paul Elgood, the Chair of the
Rainbow Fund, explained how the Fund operates and
how decisions are made as to which organisations
get grant funding. He also announced that money had
been set aside from last year’s fundraising to fund a
needs assessment of LGBT/HIV organisations during
the next year to make sure that the grants given to
LGBT Switchboard did not turn up on the night to
collect their grant. Following the event, the Director of
Switchboard released this statement. “I would like to
apologise to anyone offended by us not being present
at the Rainbow Fund Grant Awards ceremony. This was
certainly not deliberate rudeness or an intended snub to
the Rainbow Fund or the LGBT community and nor was
it motivated by any particular mindset.
He finished by saying that the Pride team were
committed to developing the event into an
international event the city could be proud of but that
could not be done without direct financial support
from the city council. He acknowledged the ‘visionary
contribution’ his fellow Director Paul Kemp brought
to the event and said he was particularly proud of
the political focus of Pride 2013 and looked forward
to more politics in 2014.
LGBT SAFETY FORUM
Gary Pargeter, the volunteer project manager from
Lunch Positive, the HIV charity who provide a
healthy meal once a week for HIV positive people,
opened the evening by expla [