First and foremost, how is everybody holding up? Is everybody safe and well? I most certainly hope so!

I know many are depressed and terrified from recent events, and I can definitely relate. Tuesday evening was certainly an emotional tirade; many folks online were badly shaken, and the next morning I found my mother crying at the dining room table, scared to death for her multi-racial family. Lately, news has been speaking of hate crimes, and various hateful groups reinvigorated. Vicious arguments are being flung around all over the place, people are lashing out- all in all things have gone significantly downhill.

Needless to say, my normal semi-worried state took a nosedive into catastrophic anxiety...
.....but only for about a quarter of a day.

Seeing so many people in complete and utter distress somehow put me in an oddly calmed state. And now, I just feel this intense need to help out, spread some kindness, show compassion, do what ever I can to help alleviate some of this monstrous anger flying around.

So~
That's what I'm going to do, starting with CHARITIES! I don't have a lot to give, but I did find this really neat hashtag on Twitter called #DrawDrive - People are setting up commissions specifically to help out their community and donating to charities.

Time to participate! I'll be setting up my charity commissions here very shortly. They will be set up slightly differently then my normal commissions. I'll show which Charities and Groups I'll be focusing on, and all proceeds will be donated!

For now, if anyone here wishes to help out and donate directly, here is a list of charities that will be in great need of support!

Most of these come from this post on tumblr (http://coffeelion-blog.tumblr.com/post/153028331841/charities-that-may-need-some-love-in-the-upcoming). If anyone has any other charities to add on here feel free to let me know!

Planned Parenthood - reproductive and sexual health, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/

Forge - supporting trans people and their families, https://forge-forward.org/

The Trevor Project - suicide and crisis prevention for LGBTQ+ youth, http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Assata’s Daughters - empowering young Black women, based out of the Chicago area http://www.assatasdaughters.org/

Tell Mama - fighting anti-Muslim sentiment and hate (they’re UK based, still searching for a US-based alternative) http://www.tellmamauk.org

the American Civil Liberties Union - actually defending the constitution and ensuring a safe legal process, https://www.aclu.org/

Southern Poverty Law Center - actively documenting and fighting hate groups in the US, https://www.splcenter.org/

NARAL Pro-Choice America - defending abortion rights, http://prochoiceamerica.org/

the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee - working to defend Arab-Americans in the US, http://www.adc.org

Immigrant Defense Project - offering legal assistance to American immigrants, http://www.immdefense.org/

Lambda Legal - civil rights lawyers for LGBT+ individuals and those who are HIV+, http://www.lambdalegal.org/

Another very long list of other Charities and support groups: http://jezebel.com/a-list-of-pro-women-pro-immigrant-pro-earth-anti-big-1788752078

and finally,

Some links to help the Standing Rock Protesters - assisting the Native American (and other) protesters against the environment-damaging pipeline:

http://standingrock.org/news/standing-rock-sioux-tribe--dakota-access-pipeline-donation-fund/

https://fundrazr.com/d19fAf

Once again, highly encouraging anyone to add to this list! Please everybody, stay safe, and be kind!