A 16-year-old and her mom in Illinois are making the holidays brighter for LGBTQ+ folks without family.
Carolyn Pinta and her daughter Molly organized a card-writing campaign in the aftermath of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs in November. Working with Facebook group Home for the Holidays, which is dedicated to connecting LGBTQ+ people who can’t go home for the holidays due to family circumstances, Carolyn put together a spreadsheet with the names and addresses of people who could use some holiday cheer.
Thousands of holiday cards have been collected from people across the country.
Daughter Molly was 13 when she founded The Pinta Pride Project and organized the first Pride parade in her hometown of Buffalo Grove, northwest of Chicago.
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“BG Pride already has 275 cards in the mail after four days!! Not too late to join our card campaign to send love and affirmation to friends across the country,” the Pintas posted to Instagram in late November.
Two weeks later, the pair could barely keep up with all the love mailed in.
“Incredible problem to have,” Carolyn posted last week, “but I can’t keep up!! Prepped another 175 cards to go out tomorrow. Just under 500 sent!! BG Pride Card Campaign- email [email protected] to get involved!!”
The Pintas have organized card parties and solicited correspondence through their Pinta Pride website. Local news coverage caught the attention of high schools and youth groups, and Buffalo Grove’s state senator, Adriane Johnson, who’ve all joined the effort.
“Hoooooly moly!!!!,” the pair posted this week. “We have MAILED 1,117 cards as of this moment and Sally Gill and friends have 278 coming our way… headed to 2,000 fast! Keep the joy coming!!”
Check out Pinta Pride’s BG Pride Holiday Card Campaign page to sign up and spread the holiday cheer.
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