Thank You Random Acts!

Hey everyone! We wanted to tell you all about an amazing gift we’ve received- a mini grant from Random Acts! In addition to this being a public thank you note, we’d like to take some time to tell all of you about this amazing organization.

What is Random Acts?

“Random Acts was founded in 2010 by actor Misha Collins after an earthquake hit Haiti, causing massive damage. Collins, who had been involved in charitable projects since college, decided to harness the energy and resources of the followers he had gained during his acting career in order to raise funds for the UNICEF disaster relief program. Within days, over $30,000 was raised. Using this momentum, Random Acts was created to inspire kindness in Haiti and beyond.”

What Do They Do?

“We fund proposals for acts of kindness. If you have an awesome idea for an act of kindness, but need some assistance with funding, we can help you out!”

Application Process:

  1. Submit Your Proposal
      • Complete the Act Proposal Form
      • Make sure to attach the Proposed Budget Form
  2. Wait for Approval/Feedback

If your proposal is approved:

  1. Complete Your Act
      • Document your act by taking photos and/or video
      • Have fun!
  2. Submit Your Final Report
      • Complete the Final Report Form
      • Make sure to attach the Final Budget Form
(If you, dear reader, have an idea for a Random Act of Kindness, check out Random Act's application process HERE.)

What Did They Do for Virtual Queer Library?

Our amazing supporter Trinity applied to Random Acts to buy $400 worth of LGBTQ+ books for our library! The application was granted, so we placed our order through A Room of One’s Own, a bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin.

Part of Trinity’s goal with this act was to bring a focus on accessibility; making sure that as many people as possible can access LGBTQ+ books. To this end, we really wanted to get audiobooks on tape/ CD that we could send to people. We quickly learned, however, that hard copies of audiobooks are falling by the wayside in our new era of technology.

In many ways, this is a great thing! Libby, an app that many libraries have, allows people to borrow audiobooks for free and stream them to their phones. Libro.fm is a digital audiobook store where patrons can pick their favorite local bookshop to support with their purchases. Still, we want to have at least some hard copies for people to borrow.

The staff at A Room of One’s Own assisted us in buying CD copies of the audiobooks of both “Aristotle and Dante” books written by Benjamin Alire Saenz and narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
    “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”
    “Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World”

In addition to those audiobooks, we were able to use our funding to purchase paper books, which have now all been added to our library system. The books are as follows:

Nonfiction:
    “Before We Were Trans” by Dr. Kit Heyam
    “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin
    “Fun Home” by Alison Bechdel
    “It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful” by Jack Lowery
    “Pageboy” by Elliot Page
    “Queer Magic” by Tomas Prower
    “Real Queer America” by Samantha Leigh Allen

Fiction:
    “Ace of Spades” by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
    “Aces Wild” by Amanda DeWitt
    “Alice Isn’t Dead” by Joseph Fink
    “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin
    “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson
    “I Would Leave Me If I Could” by Halsey
    “Rebel Robin” by A. R. Capetta
    “She Drives Me Crazy” by Kelly Quindlen
    “Sir Callie and the Champions of Hellston” by Esme Symes-Smith
    “Sir Callie and the Dragon’s Roost” by Esme Symes-Smith
    “My Dearest Darkest” by Kayla Cottingham

Thank you, thank you to Random Acts for providing us with the grant to purchase all of these books! They will be spread across the country to all who need them.

Here are the books lined up on a shelf- guarded by some of our favorite LGBTQ+ Pop Figures!

If you would like to borrow any of these books, please fill out our request form HERE.
To view our full library catalogue, click HERE.

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