PFLAG Austin


Austin LGBTQiA+ Free Support Group Meetings
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VolunteeR

There are a number of volunteer opportunities and ways you can get involved in the PFLAG Austin community, including:

  • Contributing at meetings:
    • Arrive early or stay late to help set out/put away chairs
    • Bring finger foods or beverages to share (baked or warm/savory goods are particularly popular)
    • Offer encouragement to those who are struggling
    • Answer questions for curious newcomers or extend a happy welcome
    • Share your story (or a new part of it) so others can relate and gain a greater sense of connection
    • Offer to set up and/or clean up the literature or food tables
    • Become trained in meeting facilitation or act as an official greeter

 

  • Contributing at the Board of Directors' level:
    • Attend the monthly Board meeting as a supportive and curious visitor
    • Volunteer to take on a small administrative project
    • Help us with our social media management
    • Offer to help keep our website updated
    • Volunteer to take on one of our empty positions until the next elections
    • Collect and submit quality LGBTQ-related links to post on our Resources page
    • Send us a letter or note of appreciation for our unpaid service! :)

 

  • Donate (we're a 501(3)(c) nonprofit so gifts, scholarships, donations, memoriams, sponsorships, and bequeathments are tax deductible!):
    • Register or renew your membership
    • Become a lifetime member
    • Gift a membership to someone you know, respect, or admire
    • Provide a scholarship to someone unable to pay for their own membership (we can help you find the right person and/or can handle this anonymously for you if you like)
    • Donate earmarked funds to support specific projects, events, or initiatives
    • Pledge funds in memory of someone you loved and lost 
    • Set up a recurring payment to sponsor the monthly cost of a meeting venue
    • Offer to pay for our Gay Pride or Queerbomb registration costs
    • Underwrite the cost of new PFLAG t-shirts or swag so we can toss items to the crowd at the Pride Parade
    • Include PFLAG Austin in your Final Will & Testament or as a beneficiary on your Life Insurance Policy or Revocable Living Trust

 

  • Share your story or experience of PFLAG anonymously for use on this website:
    • Submit photos of your ever more loving relationships with LGBTQ people, friends, allies, or family members so we can post them
    • Create a PFLAG relevant piece of art (in any medium: written, recorded, or visual) and send us a photo or a copy so we can display it with "pride"
    • Send us an email, snail-mail letter, PowerPoint slideshow, scrapbook, or photos reflecting your journey or a key piece of it
    • Have your LGBTQ child or family member draw a picture or create a collage of images expressing how they feel about your PFLAG involvement
    • Invite one or more extended family members to write a brief story of their struggle and growth as they came to terms with an LGBTQ person
    • Tell us a story of how you navigated a difficult conversation with a parent, coworker, teacher, institution, or medical professional
    • Document the first time you learned of PFLAG and what it meant to you
    • Write out the "rights" you believe every LGBTQ, friend, family, or ally should receive socially, romantically, professionally, politically, medically, legally, or family-wise
    • Re-write a memorable historical event with characters that have pro-LGBTQ attitudes and relationships
    • Write a short story with fictional characters that say all the things you wish you could
    • Create a PFLAG-themed food dish and send us the recipe and a picture of your finished masterpiece
    • Create a PFLAG- or LGBTQ-related social science project and send us the details and a photo!

 

  • "Come out" to someone in your personal, academic, or professional community that you feel safe sharing your story with:
    • Meet with a teacher, administrator, or nurse at your child's school and talk through the support you need and explore what's available
    • Connect with your company's HR director and ask how you can help create a more inclusive work environment, or share your story and ask for the things you need
    • Join a supportive public or private Facebook group and share with people you don't know what you're going through
    • Contact the Austin LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce and find a vendor for your upcoming project or event and share with that vendor how you found their business
    • Visit Meetup.com and search for "LGBTQ" in Austin and attend one of the meetings you find

 

  • Contact your political leaders:
    1. Know Your Elected Officials. Click here to find your senators and representatives on PFLAG National’s "Take Action" page

    2. Contact Your Elected Officials. Identify yourself as a constituent, share your story and tell them PFLAG’s values are America’s Values—that’s the message that we urge PFLAGers across the country to make clear to federal elected officials

    3. Urge Your Elected Officials to Support and Vote. Ask them to please co-sponsor our bills if they haven't already, and to bring them to a vote if they already support them

    4. Share Our Legislative Priorities. Click here to download PFLAG National's "Legislative Priorities ", which can be emailed or printed and l eft in person