And for our next trick.

April 19, 2022

2021 could not have ended on a better note for The Colors of Love. A successful telethon would allow us to spread Christmas cheer to more people in need this year than last. Thanks to the generosity of our most loyal supporters, we played the role of Gay Santa to 25 of the residents enrolled in New Alternative's programs while simultaneously guaranteeing the ability to deliver on our promise to Trinity Place Shelter that upon completion of their renovation, we would take care of their rec. room. Both organizations provided our donors with one of two unique ways to get involved in actively creating joy for someone else out of a simple gesture of Christmas Kindness. The Trinity Rec Room project will be unfolding in the coming weeks - just WAIT till you see what we've got up our sleeve. 2022 kicked off with just as much good news as 2021 ended for us. With our 501c3 approval from the IRS in hand, and just as we are about to file our first ever tax statement, The Colors of Love has begun to find unique opportunities to become visible within the world around us, as our informational table becomes present throughout Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Interactive ways for everyone to get involved - donors, parents, supportive teens. To keep things in perspective, I would like to leave you with two news articles. Both are recent. Like 2022 recent. They speak to the current affairs of the homeless NYC LGBTQ+ population - a mecca for most LGBTQ+ kids from all over the country. I made it a point to read them this morning knowing I was coming here to write this. Knowing I had nothing but good news to share. Knowing that our fight to spread kindness is always going to be considered the underdog. Challenge accepted Please find the donate button.

Article about homeless LGBTQ+ youth in NYC

Article about why the youth are so important to us

What have we been up to?

October 31, 2021

In the time since we rolled out the website, MUCH has transpired – here’s a brief overview of where we are as of October 31

TRINITY PLACE SHELTER is being forced to renovate, as mandated by The City of New York. The project will take roughly 3 months. The residents will be allowed to stay at the shelter during the renovations, with the except of the week or so where the plumbing is being replaced. During that time, their sister shelter, New Alternatives will step in to keep a roof over Trinity resident’s heads. The Colors of Love, through the generosity of my employer – American Christmas, was able to step in and offer storage for Trinity. This will alleviate the shelter form having to add another financial burden of finding affordable storage in NYC as such a thing does not exist!

NEW ALTERNATIVES SHELTER has been added to the list of shelters we serve. When word got out that New Alternatives was providing housing to our friends at Trinity, I knew we had to step in and do something just as good as the deed they are. In speaking to their director, I learned about their GAY SANTA program whereby the residents of New Alternatives write a letter to Santa asking for up to $100 worth of items they need or want. This sounded like it had The Colors of Love and The Love Network written all over it. Stay tuned as further details will be available soon.

TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS TELETHON will begin Tuesday, November 30 (Giving Tuesday) and continue through the following weekend. The initial plan is to do a LIVE SHOW Friday, December 9, and Saturday, December 10. Mark your calendars and be sure to follow along as The Colors of Love staff brings you a full program featuring educational materials, informative discussions lead by panelists who specialize in materials being custom created for our audience of donors. Official announcement coming soon.

DONOR PREMIUM PINS have been rolled out – check out our PINS page for more information. We are actively seeking a donor for the second pin, to be made available once the remaining stock of the Founder’s Pins has been depleted.

HOLIDAY ORNAMENTS will be available to purchase through our Presenting Partner American Christmas. Official announcement with all details of purchase to be made the first week in November.

Why are we here?

July 1, 2021

Christmas 2020 brought together 1,000 unique donors who helped create a Christmas Miracle for the youth at Trinity Place Shelter. Trinity Place Shelter is a transitional shelter, and one that caters specifically to LGBTQ+ youth up to the age of 22. While YES, the act of creating Christmas for these youth was wonderful, the overall experience left several of us wondering HOW and WHY these young people were in a shelter to begin with. On Christmas morning, we woke up in our warm beds, while they were in a church basement. We would gather under the tree and open gifts from family and friends. Their holiday had to be made for them by strangers, us – The Love Network. We feasted on our favorite Christmas delicacies at a table where we gathered with loved ones. They had to seek out a restaurant who would accept the gift cards we sent them as well as deliver to a shelter. There, they gathered with the only family they knew – themselves (and their wonderfully selfless Executive Director, Wendy – who spent her entire Christmas Eve and Day at the shelter so that the staff could be home – angels on earth!) Constantly on the forefront of our minds were two burning questions:

How did these kids end up in a shelter? What can be done to help? Answering those questions would become the catalyst that created The Colors of Love! An ALL VOLUNTEER STAFF of 14 (each of whom has my unending gratitude for taking an idea and turning it into reality) jumped on board as soon as the idea to create an advocacy agency started to become reality. We quickly went to work researching informative and educational materials being presented by bonafide sources. Months of research yielded us with one major underlying fact. There JUST isn’t enough educational materials to help facilitate a greater level of acceptance from family, friends, or community. Parents, unfamiliar with even the basic terminology, should find our platform as a place to further advance conversations that need to be said and heard correctly. With Politicians taking aim at LGBTQ+ people through restrictive legislation such as “bathroom bills” or “sports team bans”, youth everywhere are finding it increasingly difficult to express themselves freely. The media outlets only further complicate things by providing a platform by which such legislation is shared, yet not ever showing the detrimental side effects such laws cause on LGBTQ+ people. Our purpose can be found in many of the “hate comments” seen on line. We find more often than not, the overly-opinionated are usually the least educated. Those who use the bible against LGBTQ+ people are the first to forget that Jesus’s teachings were to love thy neighbor as thyself. The best way to fight hate is with love – The Colors of Love.