November was Pride month, with lots of exciting and memorable moments taking place across Richmond Wellbeing and in the community.
This year, our theme was Together in the West for 50 Years; a wonderful opportunity to start the celebrations of our 50th birthday in style (the gold and glittery kind).
A big part of being together in the West for 50 years also includes providing safe, affirming and inclusive services to the LGBTIQ+ community. As the first organisation in WA to achieve Rainbow Tick Accreditation we are very proud to not only have maintained this accreditation but to continually build upon and improve our services to promote safety and inclusion for the LGBTIQ+ community. We are very proud as an organisaton to participate in Pride activities every year as a way to celebrate and promote the work that we do while also sharing our support and appreciation for LGBTIQ+ people.
Many events and activities took place across our sites and services this year throughout Pride Month so here is a recap of all the fun!
Getting Creative
We started Pride Month with all kinds of crafty activities, with everyone getting into all things gold and sparkly to decorate masks, party hats, gift boxes and special messages in preparation for the Pride Parade.
Creative (and big) ideas were shared for our Pride Parade float with everyone agreeing it must include a giant cake and light up 50’s. So, planning and construction commenced… and those who displayed a knack for handy work and ingenuity were put to the test. A true demonstration of our value ‘brave and explore’ with everyone persevering through every obstacle (including expanding foam that didn’t expand) that presented itself.
Fairday
On Sunday 17 November a team of staff headed over to the Supreme Court Gardens for PrideFest Fairday. It was great to see so many other organisations and community groups coming together to celebrate and share their support of the LGBTIQ+ community. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to share information about our commitment to inclusion and providing safe and affirming services for LGBTIQ+ people.
We had a great day in the sun making badges and spinning the rainbow prize wheel with all who stopped by.
Our Sites and Services
Lots of fun and activities took place across our sites and services all over WA including our very own Drag Bingo! One of our residents even got sewing and created some magnificent rainbow sparkly sashes for our group to wear during the Pride Parade. Our Bunbury team also headed down to Bunbury Pride Fest to share the celebrations in the South West where attendees got to decorate their own fridge magents, make some pride badges and spin the wheel for a prize!
Pride Parade
This year we set a new record for 60 attendees in the Pride Parade! It was so wonderful to see everyone come together including staff, residents, consumers, family, friends and loved ones. This was the biggest parade in our history and also the best one yet!
Together we marched the streets of Northbridge in our best gold outfits and seeing everyone’s work come together on our beautiful float.
A huge thank you to everyone who worked on putting the float together and contributed pieces from decorating gift boxes to beautiful messages for our cake celebrating what it means to be LGBTIQ+, we had messages and art come from all over our sites and services which added a very meaningful touch to our float.
Thank you to everyone for another amazing PrideFest, it was wonderful to see so many people come together to celebrate and support the LGBTIQ+ community and spread the message of the work we do to ensure our services are safe, inclusive and affirming.
We would also like to say thank you to everybody who contributed to our Pride activities including Bunnings Warehouse Cannington and All Fence U Rent for helping us with our float supplies. We really value partnerships with other organisations so we can continue to make an impact for the people of Western Australia. If you are interested in getting involved or partnering with us, reach out at partnerships@rw.org.au
