Support Jeff's Gender Affirming Care Journey

Celebrate National Coming Out Day with me!

This fundraiser is to benefit my friend, Rev. Jeff Goodrich, a gifted Lutheran pastor. After years of questioning & exploring his gender identity, he has recently realized that he is a transgender woman. He has not shifted name or pronouns yet, but is planning to do so in March 2025. At that point, he will use the name Jessica.

Along with a wide network of fellow clergy and friends, I'm raising funds to help her afford the cost of facial electrolysis.

Earlier this year Jessica started Hormone Replacement Therapy and began further intentional steps toward gender transition. A next step is the removal of facial hair. While health insurance plans are making progress in what they will cover for gender affirming care, almost no insurance plans will cover this expense right now.

One facial electrolysis option would lead to weekly sessions of two hours each. Distressingly, it would take three years of weekly sessions to fully remove her facial hair. At roughly $160/hour, this would eventually cost nearly $50,000.

A much more cost-effective option includes traveling to Chicago for a process called Large Volume Electrolysis (LVE). LVE includes numbing injections into the face, which allows multiple technicians to work simultaneously. This involves six visits to Chicago, each spaced about 10 weeks apart. The total cost for this option is significantly less money with the added benefit of finishing the process within a single year, rather than three, and with far fewer visits overall. This option reduces the stress of dysphoria, and more quickly moves her to a place of living out her true self.

My friend Jessica has already traveled to Chicago for two of these six visits. Each time she has stayed with other supportive clergy or church members in order to reduce overall costs. A detailed cost breakdown is below, which totals $33,840. (Note that a previous version of this GoFundMe existed in the spring where Jessica was anonymous. The cost breakdown here is higher than in the previous version. After making the first two visits, she now knows the total expected cost with much greater clarity. If you gave to the previous version, thank you for your gift!)

Jessica is able to contribute $10,000 of her own savings. We’re seeking to raise $23,840 to cover the rest.

Trip #1 - 47 total hours of electrolysis = $7520

Trip #2 - 42 total hours of electrolysis = $6720

Trip #3 - 38 total hours of electrolysis = $6080

Trip #4 - 30 total hours of electrolysis = $4800

Trip #5 - 22 total hours of electrolysis = $3520

Trip #6 – 15 total hours of electrolysis = $2400

These are actual numbers from the first two trips, with best guesses for the remaining four trips, based on email conversations with the technicians at the Chicago facility.

Additional costs include:

Airfare for remaining four trips to Chicago ($350 times 4) = $1400

Ground transportation in Chicago = $300

Food while traveling = $400

GoFundMe fees = approximately $700

TOTAL COST = $33,840

If donations exceed the goal, they will support Arianna’s Center, which empowers trans women of color, primarily in Florida. To learn more, visit https://ariannas-center.org/

What a gift it would be for Jessica to know that the biggest barrier to this portion of physical transition - finances - is no longer an issue. What a huge difference this procedure will make in her life, as she courageously seeks to live out her authentic self in place of the gender dysphoria she has experienced!

Join me, won't you? We know this is life-giving care, and we wait for a day when our healthcare system knows it, too, and insurance companies cover it as such. In the meantime, we do what we can to bring light and life to those we care about and love.

Join me, won't you? Give $10 or $100 or $500. If you're able, choose one of the itemized costs above and cover the whole thing! Give what you can, and please share this campaign. Invite your friends and family to be a part of this gift, this new life as well.

In Jessica’s words:

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your generous gifts toward this campaign. Taking these steps would not be financially possible without this fundraiser. But even more, thank you for your generosity of prayers and love. Stepping forward into my truest self involves many challenges, but also a measure of joy. Having a welcoming community offering their care and support lightens each challenge and helps to bring about that joy!

Celebrate with me, won’t you? Let’s support Jessica in this challenging process, for she is a gift, to her family, to the church, to the world!