My name is Jade. Amongst many things, I am a human in the acro yoga community and I wanted to create a fundraiser for my dearest friend Fabricio (Fab).

The TLDR:

I am asking for funds to be raised towards Fab's many upcoming expenses towards his bridged cost of living expenses, acro yoga training, start up performance costumes and immigration lawyer fees. $5000 is starting amount and want to see if we can raise more if possible.

*A reminder: Black history month is February, and this is a wonderful way to honour one of our queer black gems of our community. #BLM

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Fab is one of the most passionate acro yogis in our community. He is a constant source of joy in my and others' lives as he strives to always help people feel supported and uplifted. Fab goes out of his way to help empower others in training and acro yoga spaces - he helps people believe they can do the things and has helped create so much community in doing this. I attest to this as he has greatly supported me stay involved with acro and in uplifting me as a person <3 .

All of these traits of his truly make Fab, fabulous and I believe in helping Fab during a difficult time.

Fab was laid off this week and due to many issues with Canadian customs, he is currently in a very difficult position in accessing employment and in a holding position with his working visa.

As one of very the few queer and black (soon to hopefully be) instructors (maybe the only one?) in the community, it feels especially important to help uplift Fab into a teaching position to help create better representation and diversity amongst the acro yoga community. This kind of inclusion work means understanding the barriers Fab faces and as a community - stepping in to support this person and their dreams.

It is Fab's dream to start a movement business and no one deserves their dreams to come true more than Fab. On this pursuit, Fab is seeking to further his skills at the Vancouver Acro Yoga festival and to receive support in gaining his Acro Yoga Instructor Training in Calgary come February. He will need funds for transport, and stay in Vancouver to attend the Vancouver acro festival - and funds to receive training in Calgary along with transport, housing and income support to help him over the two weeks of intense training it takes.

Another barrier Fab has been facing is financial costs for a lawyer in advocating for his visas. Since the pandemic, Canadian customs have slowed their work down placing many immigrants in a very strenuous position. Applying for renewal of visas comes with complications, and in Fab's situation (like others we know) he has been placed on hold. Fab is needing financial assistance in paying for these lawyer costs so he can stay in Canada with his visas.

Lastly, Fab has also begun his burlesque / performance journey and is needing costumes to begin showing his art and producing shows with friends. This kind of support and representation is needed for both Fab and our performance art communities to uplift this wonderful human to be seen on stages.

I am aiming to do some fundraising for Fab to help assist him through this difficult time between his work visa renewal. I am asking for community support in helping this incredible human be able to have access to acro yoga training and support Fab in his queer community-building work.

Please donate what you can towards Fab and support him during this time <3

** If you have other ways to help support Fab as well, please reach out to one of our team members of Fab directly.