The ripple effect from last weekend’s mass shooting in Orlando, Florida continues to hit Vancouver’s LGBTQ community as support for this year’s Pride festivities gains early traction through thousands of handwritten notes.
A Vancouver woman is building on a campaign to collect handwritten notes to hand out to participants at the city’s annual Pride Parade in August.
Wendy Williams Watt, founder of The Big Love Ball, said the idea came to her after she witnessed the response from a young man after she handed him a note that said “You are loved.”
The man’s gratitude inspired her to extend the invitation to people in Vancouver and beyond to continue writing thousands of the sentimental notes. The plan is to hand them out to more than 50,000 people during Pride Week this year.
Using recycled paper from old books, Watt and a group of volunteers armed only with Sharpies aren’t deterred by the immense task and said they will get the job done.
“Orlando is far away from us but – whether we’re ten miles away or thousands of miles away – we’re still connected. We’re not disconnected. Those were our friends. We just hadn’t met them yet,” she told Global News.
Anyone who wants to help write the notes is welcome to stop by 721 East Hastings to be part of the project.