Hi, my name is Dakota! I'm a trans, gendery, and queer scout from Troop 351 in Portland, OR. I'm working on my Eagle Scout rank, and this is part of my service project.

I'm collecting new and used school/art supplies to make kits for at-risk queer/trans youth through The Living Room Youth (SMYRC) a Portland organization dedicated to the intervention and prevention of queer youth homelessness and the general support of the queer community.

Monetary donations will be used to cover anything missing from our kits and supply them with gift cards to art stores in Portland.

With $2,500, we should have enough to give 50 kits (and 50 kids) enough nice supplies to get seriously creating! If we're able to surpass this goal, the additional money will be donated directly to the beneficiary for the benefit of queer youth.

Art and education have been fundamental to my growth as a person. I've been lucky enough to have parents who prioritized giving my brother and I access to the arts; music (texas style/celtic fiddle, anyone?), historic mediums and old-world arts practice have seen me through 11 school transfers, significant mental health struggles, and generational hard times.

In my experience, access to the arts can be lifesaving. Queer, and especially trans people like myself experience higher rates of mental health struggles (including disproportionate suicidality) and housing instability. For me, the arts have been necessary for conceptualizing and navigating these issues as a young person.

My friends are people who will benefit from this project. This is the sort of project that I would have significantly benefited from not so long ago. I am excited to help get hope into the hands of my peers!

Follow this link for more deets about the project, and thanks for listening! Feel free to send me an email (found in the link) if you want to chat.