Solidarity, Not Charity

Give Back

Every month since March 2021, a portion of my income has been reallocated toward community care, totaling to $34,655 in donations as of June 2026. I'm including this information on my website not to boast, but because I value transparency and accountability.

This work is being done imperfectly through the framework of “solidarity, not charity,” which highlights the idea of showing up for each other in mutual aid and respect.

Dean Spade writes his book, “Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (And The Next)” about how mutual aid focuses on everyone indiscriminately, not just those deemed “worthy” of help.

“Being more engaged with the complex and painful realities we face, and with thoughtful, committed action alongside others for justice, feels much better than numbing out or making token, self-consoling charity gestures. It feels good to let our values guide every part of our lives.”
Dean Spade, “Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (And The Next)"

As the founder of Youthphoria, I donated my time both as a photographer and organizer working with trans youth and raising $32,582 alongside the community over the course of two years. Additionally, I donated my time for four years as the co-founder and co-host of Rainbow Connections—an award-winning, monthly, virtual meetup for LGBTQIA+ kids and allies (K-5), in partnership with the Abington Township Public Library. I also volunteered weekly as a crisis counselor with The Trevor Project for six years. Currently, I donate my time weekly to the Abington Community Fridge.

Below is an ongoing list of the amount and percentage given per month, along with the organization or individual supported (receipts can be found on my “Give Back” Instagram stories for transparency).

2026 Total: $1,664

January 2026: $90 to Philadelphia Community Bail Fund—whose mission is to end cash bail and pretrial detention in Philadelphia. Until that day, they post bail for neighbors who can't afford to pay.
February 2026: $67 to Juntos, a community-led, Latine immigrant organization in South Philadelphia fighting for human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants.
March 2026: $578 to Resilience Resource Center, which seeks to foster and build resilience skills in marginalized communities by providing accessible mental health services.
April 2026: $929 to Homies Helping Homies, a collective mutual aid initiative improving the quality of life for the communities they serve in Point Breeze Philadelphia and beyond.
May 2026: $100 to Bread & Roses Community Fund, the leading funder of grassroots organizing for racial, social, and economic justice in the Philadelphia region.
June 2026: $100 to Attic Youth Center, which creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to develop into healthy, independent, civic-minded adults within a safe, supportive community.

2025 Total: $6,072

January 2025: $450 to Noname Book Club—a Black-owned worker cooperative connecting community members both inside and outside carceral facilities with radical books.
February 2025: $135 with $100 going toward Trevor Project to support their crisis services and $35 donated to a GoFundMe for a family affected by the recent plane crash in Philadelphia.
March 2025: $490 to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, an organization that provides guide dogs to people with vision loss.
April 2025: $1,123 to DHCC, a non-profit organization providing Deaf and Hard of Hearing services to the Greater Philadelphia region through ASL interpreting, ASL classes, and more.
May 2025: $751 to The Indigenous Anarchist, which creates content to inspire liberation. The creator is a single mother, mixed Lakota-Lebanese-Unwanted German Colonizer.
June 2025: $461 to the newly-opened Abington Community Fridge, creating pathways to food security in Abington, PA.
July 2025: $335 to Philly Thrive—a multi-racial, cross-class, intergenerational organization rooted in the communities most impacted by the legacy of the South Philly oil refinery.
August 2025: $291 with $191 toward Watermelon Glow—a free event series in West Philly with Amapiano, Afrobeats, Hip-Hop, and House music and an additional $100 to a previous client's GoFundMe for their fertility journey.
September 2025: $850 to PAWS—dedicated to saving Philadelphia's homeless and at-risk pets and serving pet owners in need. PAWS is the city's largest rescue partner and provider of affordable vet care for pet owners and rescue orgs that can't otherwise access it. In memory of Tonya Mason.
October 2025: $604 to Share Food Philly, which leads the fight against food insecurity in the Philadelphia region.
November 2025: $255 to The West Philly Bunny Hop—a volunteer-run, mutual aid group providing free food to Philadelphians.
December 2025: $327 to Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, which provides direct services to transgender and gender-diverse Pennsylvanians in a Forty-Two County Region in Pennsylvania.

2024 Total: $5,837

January 2024: N/A
February 2024: $511 (10%) to Ida's Bookshop to help raise the seed money to secure the bookshop at its current location for another year.
March 2024: $292 toward Community Partnership School, an organization recommended by a client, which helps to provide affordable education for students in partnership with their community.
April 2024: $1037 with $335 donated toward the development organization Heifer International on behalf of clients and an additional $702 to a brick-and-mortar LGBTQIA+ library in Boston, MA (QT library), totaling to $1,037 for the month.
June 2024: $333 to Savage Sisters—a non-profit providing trauma-informed recovery housing, harm reduction, outreach, and statewide education in Pennsylvania—in memory of Walter Baltra.
July 2024: $207 to Naila Francis—a grief coach, death midwife, and founder of This Hallowed Wilderness—building grief and death literacy and raising awareness through workshops, presentations, and community partnerships.
August 2024: $517 to DHCC Philly—a non-profit organization providing ASL interpreting services and community programs for the DHHDB in Philadelphia and the tri-state area.
September 2024: $458 to Mutual Aid Disaster Relief—a grassroots network whose mission is to provide disaster relief based on the principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action (to support Hurricane Helene relief).
October 2024: $1,301 with $418 toward Community Partnership School, an organization recommended by a client, which helps to provide affordable education for students in partnership with their community. And $883 to Germantown Community Fridges, a mutual aid group fighting hunger and food insecurity in Philadelphia, PA.
November 2024: $391 to purchase a Little Free Library for my home. I will be focused on distributing diverse children's reads in a neighborhood with a lot of passersby, next to a train station.
December 2024: $100 to Mask Bloc LA, a mutual aid project dedicated to distributing free masks in the Los Angeles area.

2023 Total: $3,888

January 2023: $265 (10%) to seven BIPOC individuals, with $38 payments for each, per mutual aid requests on Venmo.
February 2023: $286 (10%) to the GoFundMe of Erika Saunders, a Black single mother of two battling income, housing, and food insecurity.
March 2023: $727 (10%) to Gather Grounded Midwifery, a Black-owned birth cottage in the Powhatan & Monacan Territory of Midlothian, Virginia.
April 2023: $488 (10%) to Gender Reveal toward their grant and mutual aid programs, which distributed $25,100 in general mutual aid in 2023.
May 2023: $230 (10%) to Philadelphia Asian & Queer, a volunteer, social organization that strives to engage queer, Asian/Asian-American folks within the Greater Philadelphia area.
June 2023: $600 (10%) to Pearl & Fyre Wood, a Philly-based Black, trans stripper and drag entertainer and licensed hair stylist (and incredible human).
July 2023: $409 (10%) to The Tailored Collective, a group of textile artists committed to learning the Perfect Fit process and sharing that magic with every body.
August 2023: $287 (10%) to Jessica Saint's GoFundMe, organized to support a vendor friend through her cancer diagnosis and rehoming.
September 2023: $151 (5%) to Storybook Maze, a radical street librarian focused on eliminating Baltimore's book deserts and increasing access in the city.
October + November 2023: $262: (5%) to Sane in the Membrane's Palestinian Mental Health Fund. Toward therapy sessions, which ensure Palestinians receive culturally adequate mental health support.
December 2023: $183 (10%) toward Blue Stoop's Reading Philly Fund. All of Blue Stoop’s classes have financial aid options, and among their applicants, 95% of those receiving aid are BIPOC and Queer writers. 70% of their teachers are BIPOC, but BIPOC-lead classes often attract students that need more financial aid to attend. Donations to Blue Stoop go directly toward implementing these new programs and closing the gap for BIPOC-lead classes.

2022 Total: $7,890

January 2022: $242 (10%) to SOL Collective in Philadelphia, a harm-reduction collective working to end the overdose crisis and support overdose prevention sites.
February 2022: $513 (10%) to The Transgender Education Network of Texas, dedicated to furthering gender-diverse equality in Texas through education and networking.
March 2022: $215 (10%) to Da'Shaun L. Harrison, a fat, Black, disabled, non-binary, trans, and Autistic educator, co-host of Unsolicited: Fatties Talk Back, and author of Belly of the Beast.
April 2022: $445 (10%) to Philly Bailout toward #FreeBlackMamas, dedicated to bailing out Black women (cis and trans), gender non-conforming folk, and caregivers.
May 2022: $663 (10%) to @AnaloguePapi aka Liam Woods, an incredible trans photographer and creative director based out of LA.
June 2022: $250 (10%) to Blue Stoop, where their mission is to support and nurture writers and readers from all walks of life in the Greater Philadelphia area.
July 2022: $825 (10%) to Mikael Garner of MG Photography for their trans photo series, offering 50 photo sessions free to Black and Brown trans and non-binary folks.
August 2022: $1,875 (10%) to CBTEL for their community pantry and Diyaspora Haus, a space of home and healing for Black, trans people in Philadelphia.
September 2022: $1,380 (10%) divided three ways—two individuals via mutual aid and donations to Central Florida Mutual Aid Fund to support folks in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
October 2022: $580 (10%) split up into five payments of $116 toward five mutual aid requests.
November 2022: $367 (10%) to Chocolate Ballerina Company—a contemporary community-based dance organization that supports artists of color in the Philadelphia region.
December 2022: $535 (10%) split between two different causes -- a GoFundMe for a Fresh Start and TransSanta, delivering gifts to trans youth in need.

2021 Total: $9,104

March 2021: $1,575 (20%) to Morris Home's relocation program, supporting the trans and gender nonconforming community in Philadelphia.
April 2021: $1,397 (20%) to Red Canary Song, a grassroots collective of Asian sex workers and allies supporting decriminalization and migrant justice.
May 2021: $1,036 (20%) to No More Secrets, a Philadelphia organization that opened the nation's first menstrual hub, "The SPOT Period," in Germantown.
June 2021: $800 (20%) to Bebashi in Philadelphia, whose Trans Necessities Closet gives trans folks access to clothing, wigs, prosthetic breasts, binders, and other necessities.
July 2021: $482 (10%) to Harriett's Bookshop, in support of them owning a permanent location for the new Home for Harriett's in Fishtown.
August 2021: $921 (10%) to Black Doctor's Consortium, which is dedicated to the education and advocacy for African Americans to reduce the incidence of disease and death from COVID-19. Additionally, $290 toward Youthphoria.
September 2021: $300 (10%) to my friend Jefferson Brown's memorial and $368 to CBTEL, The Coalition for Black Trans Economic Liberation created for and by Black, transgender Philadelphians.
October 2021: $500 (10%) toward my friend's gender affirming bottom surgery on GoFundMe. Additionally, $145 toward Youthphoria.
November 2021: $500 (40%) to Chocolate Ballerina Company—a contemporary community-based dance organization that supports artists of color in the Philadelphia region—along with a $90 ticket donation to pay-it-forward to a community member.
December 2021: $700 (10%) to 13 TranSanta participants, delivering gifts to trans youth in need, safely and anonymously.