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FIBO donates $2K to Ali Forney Center
http://www.gbmnews.com/articles/4451/1/FIBO-donates-2K-to-Ali-Forney-Center/Page1.html
Antoine Craigwell

Antoine B. Craigwell graduated from Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York with a double major in psychology and journalism. As a journalist, he has written for several publications. His articles have appeared in Fortune Small Business (FSB), the Villager Newspapers in Northeastern Connecticut, The Bronx Times Reporter and The Bronx Times, The Amsterdam News, and recently for The Network Journal, in New York City.

Full Bio

 
By Antoine Craigwell
Published on 09/23/2009
 
Fulfilling promise, Black gay organization gives back to community

By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) -Seven people gathered in the early afternoon on Sept 17 for a check presentation ceremony in the 11th floor conference room of a west mid-town NYC office. James Wellons, Esq., CEO of Fire Island Blackout (FIBO), a Philadelphia, PA-based company, presented a $2,000 check to Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of the Ali Forney Center (AFC), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter and services for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth around the city.

 

 
Carl Siciliano (left), founder and executive director, AFC accepts donation from James Wellons, Esq. (right), CEO, FIBO. Photo by Antoine Craigwell
 
The check donation was the fulfillment of a FIBO promise to give to worthy organizations from the proceeds generated from this year's summer beach event on Fire Island, the first since holding beach parties in 2002.

Wellons said that while the donation was unrestricted, could be used for whatever purpose the AFC had in mind. A separate contribution of $500 was also made to the Doctors Fund of Fire Island to assist with medical services on the island.

It is hard being a teenager, it is even harder being a gay teen, and finding places to go for refuge and for safety are difficult to locate, he said, is the reason for the donation to the AFC.
"As we expand FIBO and the event becomes more successful, we plan to donate to other agencies committed to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues," said Wellons.
 
Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director, AFC; James Wellons, Esq., CEO, FIBO; and Steve Gordon, manager, Crisis Center, AFC. Photo by Antoine Craigwell
 
Sciliano said that he is grateful for the donation from FIBO, that AFC really needs all the help it could get. The donation he said assists with paying rent for one of the transitional housing apartments the organization runs for homeless LGBT youth. AFC, he said, needs to raise close to $30,000 just to pay rents for the properties the organization use, but he added that this time of the year is particularly challenging, since the organization receives funds from the City, it is on a reimbursable basis, which means that AFC has to "front" most of their payments and wait for vouchers to be repaid. To date, he added, contracts with the city have not been signed and as such the organization has expended thousands of dollars and waiting for the city to honor repayment vouchers.

Please continue to Full Story

Fulfilling promise, Black gay organization gives back to community

By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) -Seven people gathered in the early afternoon on Sept 17 for a check presentation ceremony in the 11th floor conference room of a west mid-town NYC office. James Wellons, Esq., CEO of Fire Island Blackout (FIBO), a Philadelphia, PA-based company, presented a $2,000 check to Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of the Ali Forney Center (AFC), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter and services for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth around the city.

 

 
Carl Siciliano (left), founder and executive director, AFC accepts donation from James Wellons, Esq. (right), CEO, FIBO. Photo by Antoine Craigwell
 
The check donation was the fulfillment of a FIBO promise to give to worthy organizations from the proceeds generated from this year's summer beach event on Fire Island, the first since holding beach parties in 2002.

Wellons said that while the donation was unrestricted, could be used for whatever purpose the AFC had in mind. A separate contribution of $500 was also made to the Doctors Fund of Fire Island to assist with medical services on the island.

It is hard being a teenager, it is even harder being a gay teen, and finding places to go for refuge and for safety are difficult to locate, he said, is the reason for the donation to the AFC.
"As we expand FIBO and the event becomes more successful, we plan to donate to other agencies committed to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues," said Wellons.
 
Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director, AFC; James Wellons, Esq., CEO, FIBO; and Steve Gordon, manager, Crisis Center, AFC. Photo by Antoine Craigwell
 
Sciliano said that he is grateful for the donation from FIBO, that AFC really needs all the help it could get. The donation he said assists with paying rent for one of the transitional housing apartments the organization runs for homeless LGBT youth. AFC, he said, needs to raise close to $30,000 just to pay rents for the properties the organization use, but he added that this time of the year is particularly challenging, since the organization receives funds from the City, it is on a reimbursable basis, which means that AFC has to "front" most of their payments and wait for vouchers to be repaid. To date, he added, contracts with the city have not been signed and as such the organization has expended thousands of dollars and waiting for the city to honor repayment vouchers.

Siciliano said that it may seem illogical, but in the last several months AFC lost $475,000 in funding, but it is still committed expanding the number of available beds.

"We usually have 100 beds available per night and we have kids on a waiting list," he said.

Steve Gordon who manages AFC's crisis center said that when the young people come off the street, his role is to assist with providing shower facilities, beds, HIV testing, medical care, food, and counseling and social work.

AFC lists among its fundraising ventures their signature event on Oct 5, "A Place at the Table," which this year features a performance by Rufus Wainwright; the annual event Mr. Broadway Beauty Pageant, highlighting the talent of Broadway performers held in the spring ; and a Broadway actors concert on Nov 30, titled, "A Very Mary Holiday."

The Ali Forney Center was established in 2002 as a safe place for LGBT youth to have the opportunity to get off the streets by providing housing, medical care and educational services to close to 1,000 young people a year. Ali Forney was a homeless African-American gay youth who was killed on the streets of Harlem.