Family, Friends, Community, and Visitors,

     I am Michael Blanton, your new Pride Administrator. I am very excited to take on this role for your Pride Board. I always take pride in volunteering in the community. I have worked with Pride for 5 years now doing everything from hauling ice, setting up, front gate, and tear down. For the last two years, I have also been involved significantly in the planning of the festival. My goal as a board member is to continue to focus on our mission statement by growing our organization with more city wide recognition. I would also like to grow our sponsorship base to increase funding for more events and community outreach. This year we have created a very diverse steering committee to continue to make sure that we reach each and every individual in our community.
     I don’t think a lot of people realize how many people and how much work it takes to be an organization of this caliber. The festival and other community events could never happen without the help of many volunteers. I want to continue with Donnyel’s challenge of encouraging everyone in our community to be a part of Pride, whether it is sharing events on Facebook, volunteering at events, showing up and supporting events, or coming to the meetings to voice your opinions about the organization and the festival. We are striving to make Pride about each and EVERY person in our community. When I say every person I am referring to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Innersex, & Allies and any other category that you place yourself in.
     Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope to see all of you at the next community meeting at MCC Church January 4, 2012.  Please continue to visit our website periodically and like us on Facebook (Pride KansasCity) so that you are kept up to date on upcoming events.