Watch Charli Williams proudly show off her sewing skills that she's using to support a good cause--LGBTQ+ rights.
By Heather Newgen
For the last 50 years, Pride Month has been a global celebration to promote equality and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a rebellion against discriminatory police raids of gay bars in New York. Every June people take to the streets for Pride parades and other public festivities to celebrate social and self-acceptance, the freedom to love whomever and to raise awareness for issues the LGBTQ+ faces. But, this year all events have canceled or moved online due to coronavirus, so this 12-year-old girl from Oklahoma found a creative way to show her support.
Charli Williams started making scrunchies a few months ago as a way to make money to pay for her dance lessons, but quickly used her skillset to help others. She's sewing rainbow themed masks and scrunchies and selling them for $5.00 each. She's donating $2.00 from every sale The Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to the LGBTQ+ community.
"Being a teenager is hard anyways and some kids don't have a parent or adult they can talk to about their feelings. The Trevor Project can help with that. Mental health is important, Williams told The Voluntourist. [This] "is important to me because not enough people are supportive. Some people don't like people who are LGBTQ+. For anyone who is anti-LGBTQ, Williams' message is, "I live by the rule of " if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". People who don't support other's differences don't realize that words really can hurt. Words can really change a person's outlook on life. A single word can change a person's life."
The Trevor Project offers a judgement free space and life-saving resources for LGBTQ+, but relies on volunteers to join their team of trained crisis counselors, who are available via email, text or phone 24 hours a day. In addition, volunteers are always needed and welcomed to help with youth outreach and advocacy. For more information check out their website. If you'd like to help Charli raise money, you can donate fabric or buy one of her items. You can message her on Instagram @scrunchiesbycharli or email her.