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Imagine combining tempting vegan, vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, witty conversation, and a photographic journey through the history of Vermont's gay community. Now imagine pouring them all into a space of our own.
That's exactly what the people working on the Burlington RU12? Community Center would like to do.
The fledgling center's planning committee hopes to raise awareness of its efforts -- and build a sense of community -- with its First Supper event during Equality Begins at Home week.
Scheduled for Saturday, March 27, at Burlington's Radisson Hotel, the dinner offers a chance to collectively consider and celebrate the origins, achievements, people, and places of the Vermont queer community. It's also an opportunity to make friends, relax, break bread, and dream up uses for the new center.
Planners are currently dealing with the practical issues of center creation, including investigation of grant and incorporation, searching for a site and collecting suggestions for space use.
Center organizer and North End resident Don Eggert feels that "the vision of the Burlington RU12? Community Center is to bring us together, look at where we come from, and where we're going. It's time we had our own space to do that."
The First Supper will explicitly demonstrate the center's commitment to history. Community members of all ages will be invited to share stories and memories about events and folks that have impacted them over the years.
Organizers also plan to display the beginnings of its community archive project during the evening. The archive of photographs, banners, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia will later be housed in the RU12? space.
Admission to the First Supper is $10. However, thanks to a partial subsidy from the NGLTF's EBAH fund, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
