For almost 45 years much of Green Country’s LGBTQ+ population has looked to the Tulsa-based Oklahomans for Equality for support and community events, but the non-profit now says its services are in serious jeopardy.
Eddie Carreño sits on Oklahomans for Equality’s board of directors. He assisted in Saturday’s thumbprint fundraiser, in which donors got to leave their name or a painted fingerprint on the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center’s exterior wall for every $100 they give.
It’s part of the non-profit’s “100k for Valentine’s Day” campaign.
Bonita James and her niece, Kiley, were among the first to show up.
“It’s just to show the value of community-building, and how a whole bunch of people can come together and support something that’s so important and impact so many in Tulsa,” James said.
The $100,000 the organization wants to raise, however, is not an arbitrary number. That’s how much Carreño told 2 News it costs to keep the center running through the spring.
“The board is strategizing to get us past that, but at the moment it takes at least $40,000 to run the center- to keep the center open every month,” Carreño said.