Once called Appleton Pride, this year, we are encompassing the whole Fox Valley to celebrate! We have grown exponentially over the last 3 years and rebranded to be inclusive to more communities to spread love and celebration to many communities that need to celebrate in a safe place together. Combined Locks, Kaukauna, Little Chute, and Kimberly have been added to this event.
Appleton Pride started with 50 people huddled underneath the stage at Jones Park in 2020 and has grown into our 4th year expecting 3,000 people to attend!
Christ the King, who recently became RIC, will also have a booth there.
Vicar Sommer is the last remaining founder on the organization team and is Vice President!
When: June 22nd, 2024
Time: 1 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Place: Riverside Park in Neenah
As we are called by Christ to love one another as we love God, and as God first loved us, please consider volunteering at the booth or attending. This is a great way to support the communities involved and show the love we are called to give to those who really need to hear and see it in action.
Parasol Patrol Training
What on earth is Parasol Patrol? It is a national organization that holds non-violent training throughout the United States with two things: an umbrella and love. Parasol Patrol is an entity that provides training in non-violent coverage of signs that are harmful to people in marginalized communities. It is as simple as opening the umbrella and standing in front of the signs.
Those who are trained can be called up to provide assistance in keeping hateful messaging away from the communities that harm is directed at. I recently saw the Parasol Patrol show up in droves at a high school in Oklahoma where Westboro Baptist Church planned to preach hateful rhetoric and were blocked by the Parasol Patrol enough to walk away from their plans.
As of right now, there are no official chapters in Wisconsin. Fox Valley Pride is hosting this training here at Christ the King to live into the call to love, to be in community with the "least of these", and to live into the RIC journey of inclusion. These trainings come at a cost and Fox Valley Pride is looking for financial assistance to cover the cost of the training. Fox Valley Pride has been a target in the past for hateful messages and protestors with harmful signs and we are looking to add another level of love and protection this year.
The most vulnerable folk at Fox Valley Pride are our young people. Protestors will come and yell hateful messages at children and Parasol Patrol will be there to combat that with the umbrellas, love, and even sound-cancelling headphones for children at risk.
If you are able to give to the training, we are looking for $1500 to cover our half. To donate, you can follow this link:
If you are someone who would love to be part of the training and be present at Fox Valley Pride with your umbrella, or know of others who might be interested, please follow the link to sign up for updates and information.
Parasol Patrol Interest Sign Up Parasol Patrol Anti-Protester Training Who are Parasol Patrol? Learn more about them here: https://parasolpatrol.org/ What will training be about? Shielding Children and Young People We shield children and young people at LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC events. We use umbrellas to create a visual barrier so kids won't have to see the signs and angry faces and we even have noise canceling headphones for the little ones because grown adults come with bullhorns to yell at children. When will training be held? Thursday, June 6th, 2024 Location: to be disclosed privately in an email confirmation Time: sometime between 4-8pm, TBD Please submit one form entry per attendee please. |
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