SPECIAL FAMILY WEEK EDITION!

Dear Families,

It seems hard to believe that we are less than two weeks away from our 10th annual Family Week in Provincetown. As your new executive director, I am eagerly anticipating the chance to meet all of the incredible families from across the country who will be joining us for this amazing event. If you’ve been before, you know how terrific the week is, and if you are new to Family Week, I know you will be overwhelmed by this year’s experience.

I think now, more than ever, it is important for our families from all over the nation to come together and connect in deep and meaningful ways. It fortifies us and shores us up for the many battles that lie ahead. I know that I look at  Family Week as not only an opportunity to have fun (which we know is so important), but also as a unique chance to learn what I and my family can do to make a difference in our fight for equal rights.

So, if you have not yet registered for Family Week, please do so today at http://www.familypride.org/events/familyweek2005.php. There are so many exciting things planned for the week, and we don’t want you to miss it.

Our staff is busily preparing for this event, and will close pre-registration on Mon., July 25 at noon(EST). This will allow them to create a smooth check-in process in Provincetown. However, you can still register on-site for this amazing week!

In addition, there are a few spots still available for our Monday morning Family Pride breakfast, as well as the Fish & Chips dinner on Wednesday night. If you weren’t already planning on coming to the dinner, you should know that the event is sponsored by R Family Vacations, and they will be raffling off a free cruise for their 2006 Alaskan voyage at the dinner! Don’t miss your chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime vacation!

Check-in for those families who have pre-registered, as well as on-site registration ($175) will begin on Sat., July 30 from 2-5pm at the Provincetown Town Hall (Commercial and Ryder Streets), and again on Sunday from 9am-3pm at the Family Pride storefront, just steps from Town Hall at 256 Commercial Street.

This year, Family Pride is very proud to honor the family of Gillian Pieper and Karen Pike with our fourth annual “Families of Courage” award. In partnership with COLAGE, we will present the fifth annual Fisher Davenport Award to youth activist Sol Kelley-Jones. The special awards presentation, “Honoring Our Heroes” will take place on Tues., Aug. 2 beginning at 4pm. We’ll follow this with our first-ever Family Pride advocacy town hall meeting. I’m proud to be joined by our special guests Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett Barrios, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) staff attorney Michele Granda, as well as Pieper and Pike.

I want to acknowledge the generosity of our Family Week corporate sponsors, including IBM, Capital One, Volvo Cars of North America, Growing Generations, Crew Creative Advertising, WALT DISNEY WORLD ® Resorts, Bay Windows, Cape Air, R Family Vacations and Q Television. I also want to pay tribute to the incredible vision and generosity of our Family Week founders, Scott Davenport and Tim Fisher.

In our current political climate, our Family Week event is fundamentally important. It allows us to gather in large numbers, to help our children feel empowered, to refuel and re-energize and ultimately to give us the tools and resources to fight for the equality that is due us and our children. I hope you will be a part of this celebration.

I look forward to meeting your family this week, and introducing you to my family. Please join us for this special 10th annual event!

Sincerely,

Executive Director
Family Pride Coalition