TRANS DAY OF REMEMBERANCE CARE PACKAGE PROJECT
Every November for the past five years, a small group of committed volunteers has created care packages to honour TDOR. This began as a way not only to mourn those we’ve lost, but also to ensure that trans and non-binary people in our community feel valued, seen, and cared for.
Each year, about 50 care packages are prepared, along with a few additional packages for trans and non-binary community leaders.
RaY is honoured to be a part of this initiative. To make a donation to the TDOR Care Package Project and receive a tax receipt, please use the form below and choose the TDOR fund from the drop-down menu.
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To contact us please email youarelovedwinnipeg@gmail.com
To volunteer, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/G3mntubJXFJqdCzA6
Due to the high volume of interest in receiving care packages, we have closed the form at this time.
Click here to read the note below with more details about the closure of applications.
💜 A Clarification About You Are Loved Care Package Applications 💜
Hello everyone!
First, we want to thank you for the overwhelming interest in this year's You Are Loved care packages for Transgender Day of Remembrance.
We also want to clear up some confusion about why applications closed, and who is responsible for that decision.
You Are Loved is a small, volunteer-run initiative based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We're a handful of community members who come together to bake treats, gather gifts, assemble personalized care packages, and deliver them to members of our local trans community. This started in a volunteer's living room. We have only just begun to outgrow the living room.
RaY (Resource Assistance for Youth) is our fundraising partner, but RaY did not make the decision to close applications. That decision was made by the You Are Loved team based on our available funding, supplies, and volunteer capacity. Please direct questions about the care packages and application process to us (youarelovedwinnipeg@gmail.com), rather than RaY. RaY has generously given us their support in outreach, and we are grateful to them for helping us reach you with our little initiative!
Our application form opened on October 1 and remained open for approximately two weeks. During that time, we received around 30 applications. After our announcement was shared much more widely on Instagram, we received over 100 applications within a matter of hours, exceeding what our small team could reasonably promise to fulfill. Independently shared copies of the original announcement continued circulating without the update that applications had closed, making it outside of the Winnipeg circle we hoped to connect with. We understand that caused confusion and disappointment, especially for people who learned about the initiative through those posts.
Applications are now closed. We currently have 75 packages approved and are working to secure additional resources to accommodate those already on our waitlist. You are welcome to email us to get on the newsletter to be notified for the next time we open YaL applications!
We would love to help everyone who has reached out! We have had people from as far as the USA and Europe email us. This is a Winnipeg-based initiative, and we do not currently have the resources to ship packages outside of our area. We rely on the support of volunteer community members and connections. If you love what we are doing and are not in Winnipeg, the best thing you can do is start talking to your community and find out what community and connections may be local to you to start a You Are Loved initiative locally!
We know that many people, both here and elsewhere, could benefit from a reminder that they're loved and supported. It's been a hard year. We want you to know, we're glad you are here, and that we've had this opportunity to learn just how much people need to hear this message. We genuinely wish we could reach everyone. But our ability to help depends on what our volunteers can realistically deliver based on our time and funding.
We ask for your patience and kindness toward the volunteers and community partners who are making this project possible. Everyone involved wants this initiative to succeed and reach as many people as we can with love.
If you'd like to help us expand our capacity, donations can be made through our fundraising partner, RaY:
Thank you for the incredible enthusiasm and support. We're a small group of volunteers with a lot of heart, some very busy ovens, fingers covered in glue and glitter, full of love for a community we're doing our best to show up for.
Warmly,
The You Are Loved Team 💜