Broad City Fundraiser
Broad City Ultimate is running a fundraiser for Morris Home and Trans Lifeline through the VC store. Take a look at the collection to learn more about these two important organizations, and please support if you can!
Special thanks to Christine Reynolds for taking the time to answer our questions!
VC: Please introduce Broad City Ultimate – what’s your team’s story?
CR: Broad City was a womxn's club team, founded in 2017. I was a founding member and a captain. Playing womxn's competitively made me fall in love with ultimate on a whole new level, and I think a lot of my teammates coming from mixed ultimate experienced the same. I was always very proud of my teammates and coaches for the growth and fun we experienced together.
Over the years, we organized several womxn's clinics and events, including an annual womxn's clinic at Lafayette College. There was something very special about being able to bring our personal experiences to the womxn of an unbalanced college mixed team to help change the program for the better. Each year, the womxn's skills and the overall gender-based imbalances improved, and I really enjoyed seeing my teammates bloom in those mentorship roles.
In 2020, a larger womxn's program in Philadelphia was taking form (before the pandemic), which is really exciting. I can't wait to see what the future holds!!
Tell us about your team’s fundraiser; what was the motivation?
With the pandemic, I think everyone is deeply missing the sport and the community. We're also seeing the state of the world around us, and we're trying to improve it. This fundraiser was one way I felt I could contribute to that effort.
Combining the O in 'Broad' and T in 'City' to create the female symbol in our original logo felt right at the time, but not long after I created the Wonder Woman-inspired version of the logo, I realized that I wanted to make a logo that was more inclusive to honor the Broad City players, attendees at our clinics, and members of our greater community that may not feel a connection with that binary symbol. I changed the female symbol into the trans symbol, and that kicked off the development of pushing it further forward with the incorporation of the Progress Pride Flag elements because black lives matter, and black trans lives matter.
Many teams want to do their part to support marginalized communities. How did you find and select the organizations you decided to support? Any tips for teams planning their own fundraisers?
Because the trans community was the inspiration for this entire project, I wanted to support both a local and a national trans organization. I did my research online and then reached out to several friends whose advocacy and involvement I really admire for their recommendations and feedback.
Morris Home: Morris Home, the first residential recovery program in the country to offer comprehensive services specifically for trans- and gender-variant individuals, is moving to a new location in order to expand services in response to a growing need in Philadelphia. Morris Home supports trans- and gender-nonconforming individuals as they develop the knowledge, skills and supports necessary to promote sobriety, manage emotional and behavioral difficulties, choose and maintain safe and healthy lifestyles, and develop healthy relationships with peers, family and the community.
Trans Lifeline: Founded in 2014 as a peer-support crisis hotline, Trans Lifeline is a trans-led organization that connects trans people to the community, support, and resources they need to survive and thrive, offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis - for the trans community, by the trans community.
If you're planning your own fundraiser and feeling intimidated, ask others for support or to be a sounding board for your ideas. Build something great!
How has your team been handling the 2020 cancellations? Are you still managing to engage players and keep an ongoing team atmosphere?
2020 is a hard year... but hopefully that will make 2021 and 2022 more special than ever. I hope that we can continue to have discussions and take the necessary steps together to be more inclusive of all players of all backgrounds in Philadelphia and beyond.
Check out the Broad City Ultimate fundraiser collection