LETTER TO EDITOR: MindOut Proud of Pride!

I am SO proud of Brighton Pride, and the fantastic work it does to raise money for local good causes.

The money raised to be distributed by the Rainbow Fund is a wonderful way to redistribute the profits from ticket sales. MindOut is very impressed and grateful for the work done to set up the £1 per ticket donations and the hard work that the volunteers who run the Rainbow Fund do each year to give out a range of grants.

We are very lucky in Brighton to have an LGBT+ fund which directly supports services to the most disadvantaged parts of our communities.  Currently Pride, via the Rainbow Fund, supports our work with LGBTQ people who experience suicidal distress and contributes to the costs of running an affordable LGBTQ counselling service.

I am really proud that Brighton Pride has kept Pride accessible for us all.  The Parade is a wonderful free event which anyone can attend and local residents can obtain a free ticket to the park in return for volunteering.  Pride has been flexible and helpful, giving us at MindOut volunteering tasks to do within our group work service, a boon for people who do not want to volunteer on the day.

The Pride organisers have consulted with community groups every year, listened to feedback and helped to sort out any problems or issues.  This has helped us feel part of the development of Pride, part of the delivery and able to offer our service users and volunteers every opportunity to get involved and attend whatever parts of the Pride festival they wish to.

Thank you Pride!

Helen Jones, CEO MindOut