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ReachOUT NC teams up with Gay For Good.
It’s official: Gay For Good has its first chapter in the South!
The nonprofit, which connects members of the LGBTQ community with various volunteer service projects, will cover Raleigh and Durham in its service area, joining 14 other chapters in cities including Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. Its mission is to enhance visibility, promote goodwill and unite diverse communities through volunteerism. Here in the Triangle, Gay For Good is teaming up with ReachOUT NC, another local organization working to connect members of the LGBTQ community with the wider community through group service projects and volunteering.
ReachOUT NC just celebrated its fifth anniversary and has completed more than 150 service projects to date.
“When I moved back to Raleigh from San Francisco, I wanted to build a more constructive outlet as a way for people to get together and give back into the community,” says Michael Wilson, the founder of ReachOUT NC. Wilson, originally from North Carolina, says he saw a lot of ways people in the LGBTQ community could get involved in San Francisco and saw a lack of those kinds of opportunities in the Triangle.
ReachOUT NC focuses on projects where all people can come together and get to know each other while also doing good for the community. Volunteer opportunities could include working with young people, making meals for the homeless or building homes with Habitat for Humanity.
“Typically, we try to have two projects a month, sometimes three,” Wilson says. “We try to appeal to people who have different interests.”
Upcoming events include volunteering with the Miracle League of the Triangle—helping children with special needs in the outfield and assisting with base running—on May 11 and freshening up the pantry of Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina on June 22.
“We’re providing awareness,” Wilson says. “Raleigh is getting more progressive, but it’s about changing the hearts and minds of people who may not know gay people, or may not interact with them. We work hand in hand with our neighbors. We want to go out and have a good time. We’re just like everybody else.”
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