Day to be Gay celebration creates charitable foundation

By TOM KANE

CALLICOON, NY — As promised last year, the Day to be Gay Festival organizers announced the first contributions to its newly formed Day to be Gay Foundation.

It made the announcement at the fourth annual Day to be Gay Festival on Saturday, September 4.

“So far, we have collected $10,000 and expect to reach our goal of $25,000 at the end of our celebration this afternoon,” said festival organizer Kathy Rieser.

The purpose of the foundation is to raise money to support charitable organizations in Sullivan County.

“The Day to be Gay Foundation marks a ‘coming of age’ of the gay and lesbian community in Sullivan County,” Rieser said.

Rieser, who is the host of the WJFF radio program “Out Loud and Queer,” has collected a committee of gay people to organize the festival and to serve on the board of the foundation.

“This isn’t something you can do alone,” Rieser said.

This year the foundation board of directors has selected three beneficiaries of the fundraising:

— CATS, the Catskill Adolescent Treatment Services Program of the Catskill Regional Medical Center that assists youth with health problems,

— CIRCLES, the gay and lesbian youth program sponsored by Planned Parenthood.

— The Delaware Community Center which has hosted, against some local opposition, the festival since its inception.

The festival drew over 600 visitors. About 35 vendors were on hand to display their wares.

“We’re getting more and more vendors because businesses realize that the gays are a considerable market here in Sullivan County,” said David Knudsen, one of the organizers of the festival and vice president of the foundation board. Rieser is its president.

The highlight of the festival was a “Dog of the Day Contest.”

“We noticed last year that so many people brought their dogs, so we decided to make it into a contest,” Knudsen said.

Since the foundation doesn’t have its 501c3 status with the IRS, it is requesting contributors to make pledges rather than an actual cash contribution at this time.

“Upon approval of our charitable status, we will contact contributors to fulfill their pledges,” Knudsen said.