WOW,2020, What a year?!!
Like all of you, we look back on 2020 with a mix of disbelief, exhaustion and compassion. People are under such duress and yet, time and time again, we rise to the occasion. We figure out how to work from home and support our kids. We enforce social distancing for all our wellbeing, and we celebrate our kids’ special days with drive-by birthdays and outdoor dining. We somehow figure out how to be the love & support others need, while still keeping up with our own self-care. PFLAG MB/South Bay continues to build our community, even while navigating new obstacles.
We mastered Zoom and helped coach our members on using this new technology on a moment’s notice. We quickly learned to take advantage of the platform, presenting speakers from all over the country who never would have been accessible to us before. We’ve been able to host attendees from other areas and attended meetings of other chapters as we never have before.
PRIDE definitely was still ON in 2020, even though in-person PRIDE events were cancelled. PFLAG MB/South Bay launched our POST YOUR PRIDE social media campaign, bringing together local business partners, churches and PFLAG members to post pictures showing their pride.
We had an amazing opportunity to bring together PFLAG chapters from all over Southern California when we hosted the 2020 Southern California Regional PFLAG Conference in February, just before we all were locked down due to COVID. We were inspired by dynamic speakers, moving films, and the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles. We learned more about PFLAG and LGBTQ+ history and, most importantly, we strengthed bonds and shared ideas with each other.
Through all of this, our community continued to come together for two support meetings a month to talk, listen and share wisdom – all while moving through one of the most challenging periods in all of our lives. We’ve had an unprecedented number of new attendees at every meeting. Parents who just learned of their kids’ coming out the month, the week, sometimes just the night before our meeting. Families attending our meetings together – sharing confidences with us and each other, sometimes for the first time. Youth struggling without their usual coping mechanisms and support systems looking for community support. The work of our chapter has never been more important.
I’m so proud that we’ve accomplished all of this entirely with our team of dedicated volunteers. Our trained facilitators lead our support group meetings with compassion and patience. Our education team is constantly on the lookout for potential new speakers. Our Board, in addition to their full-time jobs beyond PFLAG, lead teams working to implement our 2020-21 priorities, including our Diversity Initiative, Schools Outreach program and Business & Community Partnerships. We literally could not be here without our amazing volunteers.
In recognition of that, I want to thank outgoing founder and Board member, Tina Sarafa. She was the original Mama Bear who introduced me to all the others. She worked tirelessly with me and Linda Reeves to birth this chapter and served as Vice President on our Board for our first two years. Her community contacts and wise counsel have been invaluable to our growth. Tina will always be with us, but, for the time-being, she’ll be leaving the board to take care of her business & personal matters. We love you, Tina!
And finally, we continue to grow and build the infrastructure of our chapter. We welcome two new board members, Alison Wood (she/her/hers) and Crystal Segura (she/her/hers), both of whom are extremely passionate about our LGBTQ+ community. In October, we gracefully navigated our first leadership transition. Rita Gerace (she/her/hers) will step into Tina’s shoes to serve as our Vice President and Tyler Wilde (they/them/theirs) will take over as our Board Secretary. We’ll be doing more to introduce you to all the members of our Board and I hope you’ll all have opportunities to better know these incredible people over the coming months.
The incredible talents and dedication of our team assures me that we will continue to thrive and meet the needs of our community even in these uncertain times. If you have talents & enthusiasm you’d like to share with our chapter, please, join us! We have great plans for the coming year and the more help we have, the more we get to do for our community.
Stay healthy & safe!
Thanks for being a part of our community!
Cindy Byrne (she/her/hers) - President, PFLAG Manhattan Beach/South Bay
