Agents of Love & Light - DCI

The Colors of Love seeks to bring LGBTQ+ awareness to the pageantry world via a newly formed partnership with Music City Drum & Bugle Corps. This partnership will benefit Launch Pad - a Nashville based organization that caters to homeless LGBTQ+ youth.

Founded in 2021, The Colors of Love serves as an advocacy agency whose mission is to further advance the LGBTQ+ agenda by providing educational and informational resources needed by those seeking authenticity and acceptance, as well as those whose lives are impacted by such. Tools for families about coming to terms with being a part of a community not very many people ever desire to become a part of. According to The National Network for Youth, of the 4.2 million homeless youth in America today, an overwhelming 40% (1,680,000) are LGBTQ+, under the age of 22. Intolerance and lack of acceptance at home is among the leading cause for LGBTQ+ youth being 120% more likely to experience homelessness as compared to their cis-gendered peers. Music City Drum Corps is a World Class competitive drum and bugle corps based out of Nashville, TN. Founded in 2009 with 47 members, the corps is now home to over 150 high school and college aged musicians and performers who will travel to more than 10 states to appear in over 20 contests this summer. Launch Pad is a Nashville based organization that provides up to six months of overnight accommodations in "home-like" apartments through their Emergency Housing Program. With onsite staff and case management, guests are able to focus on employment and search for permanent housing without the struggles of living on the streets. During the winter months, Launch Pad hosts a second program offering that provides Emergency Shelter through it's network of local parishes when space is available. The Shelter provides an LGBTQ+ affirming, safe sleeping environment. Staff and volunteers are trained in trauma informed care as everyone involved aims to create a welcoming, secure, and healing environment. The Colors of Love seeks to be a conduit bringing two communities together. Fully aware of the rising costs of living, it is NOW, more than ever - that we should be looking after those who aren't being looked after by those who should be doing just that. Can you give up a cup of coffee so a kid in a shelter can have a hot breakfast?

HERE ARE TWO WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

Spectators who visit the Music City Merchandise Kiosk will find two unique opportunities to create kindness through compassion. HEARTS OF HOPE boards will be on display at select contests. Attached to the board will be BLANK hearts where anyone and everyone can and should handwrite an inspirational and uplifting message of hope, love, & support to the youth who call Launch Pad home. Cognizant that these youth had their rainbows taken away by the very same people who gave them life but stopped short at loving their child unconditionally. We seek your assistance in filling that void. HEARTS OF HOPE is a NO COST program offering of The Colors of Love. The boards created over the summer of 2022 will be donated put on display at various Launch Pad locations so that the youth who call that shelter home, might take with them YOUR positive and uplifting note at a time when the world seems so dark. The second way to get involved is by visiting thecolorsoflove.org and registering as an AGENT of LOVE & LIGHT. In exchange for your completed registration and minimum donation of $15, you will receive a LOVE & LIGHT LANYARD - a rainbow lanyard with credential that identifies YOU as an AGENT of Love & Light. The lanyard comes complete with a 3" light up acrylic heart thus signaling to everyone that YOU are an Agent of Love & Light and that you provide a safe space to those who need to come out to someone. Spectators will have the option to pick up their lanyard at select drum corps contests, or to have it mailed to them (for an additional fee). Proceeds (less operational costs not to exceed $5 plus the cost of shipping) will be donated to Launch Pad as part of the annual Colors of Love Telethon held in December. -- Darren Delaney (He, Him, His) Founder & CEO

Providence Pride

June 18, 2022

The Colors of Love brings Love & Light to it's debut pride event. Saturday, June 18, Providence RI, there we were. Our booth was set up as to be an inviting space where guests would be made to feel welcome with comfortable seating. Hundreds of stories were shared. Just as many pamphlets, stickers, and word packs (LGBTQ+ word games) were also distributed. Highlights of the day included those picked up their Love & Light Lanyard in exchange for signing up for our newsletter and making a $15. donation. (Lanyards are available to any donor who meets the same requirements. Find our Love & Light lanyards here. Hearts of Hope continued to be the success we have come to know it to be. Signage is all that explains what we are asking passers by to do. Well over 300 individually handwritten notes of inspiration have been left on our boards. Those boards will soon find their way to Trinity Place Shelter for the youth there to receive the outpouring of love that tis campaign has grown to become. We learned that support groups for LGBTQ+ adults do not exist in the greater Rhode Island / Massachusetts area. Alarmingly, neither do LGBTQ+ youth shelters. Through meeting several of the young people who visited, we learned that there is a major need to create educational tools for parents who have just learned they are now part of the LGBTQ+ community. To that regard, we say Challenge Accepted! Help end intolerance by letting everyone know YOU are an Agent of The Colors of Love. Please pick up your Love & Light Lanyard today. Providence Pride video:

Resources Table makes debut

April 24, 2022

The Colors of Love Informational Resources Table made it's debut at the Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN) Circuit Championships held in Allentown PA. Less than a week later, we were also a presence on the concourse of TIA Atlantic Indoor Championships held in Wildwood, NJ. The table featured FUN PACKS - word search and crossword type puzzles geared toward learning new LGBTQ+ terms that are featured in our Glossary. Brochures featuring our website offerings, complete with direct link QR code were made available to those who inquired more about what we do. Our website was on full display and an attached monitor replayed our recent telethon. Our table offered a unique opportunity for those present to get involved with one of our ongoing initiatives - The Trinity Place Shelter Rec Room Renovation Project. Be sure to check out our Hearts of Hope page for more information. We met several young people and their families - all at various stages of their journey to find acceptance of authenticity. We witnessed first hand how intolerant adults can be. The need to educate the general population of society continues to be a growing area of concern for us as we prepare to begin taking on this challenge. Special thanks Patricia Matos who single handedly managed the table in Allentown, and to Evy Bartholomew (and her husband Dan) for adding the QR codes to our brochures. Truly a testament to how grass roots our organization really is!