Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

On Saturday December 12, Godless Perverts hosted a benefit party for St. James Infirmary, the San Francisco health clinic run by and for sex workers. We just finished tallying up the numbers — and we raised over $900! ($901, to be precise.)

This was our first big fundraising event, and we’re delighted that it went so well. Everyone at the party had a grand time — the silly icebreaker game was a big hit, as it mysteriously is every year. We had a wonderful spread of yummy food and beverage. The fraudulent Tarot readings were eerie and hilarious. And very importantly — between donations made at the event, and overflow from our online fundraiser, we raised over $900. St. James Infirmary is an important and valuable resource: they provide sex workers of all genders with health care and counseling of all kinds, including primary care service, gynecological and urological medical care, STI testing and counselling, needle exchanges, and support groups. We were delighted to be able to pull together the energy and resources of the Godless Perverts community, to support the clinic in such a tangible way. We’ll definitely be doing this sort of event again!

We want to extend a huge “Thank You” to everyone who helped out. We want to wholeheartedly thank Borderlands Cafe: the space was perfect for the party; the management went out of their way to help us make the event a success; and the staff were incredibly warm and supportive, and did a lot to make the event a pleasure for everyone there. They even donated to the fundraiser! Big thanks to the volunteers who showed up early or stayed late to help make the event happen. Thanks, of course, to everyone who brought food or beverage — we had a wonderful spread! We want to give a big “Thank You” to Juba Kalamka, who did such a wonderful job representing St. James Infirmary at the party. Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about the event and about our online fundraiser: we know that not everyone can attend events or donate money, and we’re so glad that social media made it possible for everyone to help out.

And many thanks, of course, go to everyone who donated money. Whether you made a large donation or a small one, whether you donated at the event or through our online fundraiser, you made this a success.

Greta and Chris are terrible at remembering to take pictures at our events — so alas, we don’t have party pics! We do have pics of food and door prizes, though. (If you have pics of the party — and permission of everyone in the pictures to post them — please send them our way! Yes, selfies totally count.)

And did we mention that we raised over $900 for St. James Infirmary? We did. All of us. If you did anything at all to help make this event happen — if you mentioned it to a friend, if you kicked in a couple of bucks when we passed the hat at a Godless Perverts Social Club, if you just helped build the Godless Perverts community so we could get stronger and put on events like this one — you were part of making this happen, and we’re deeply grateful.

Note: If you missed out on this fundraiser, and want to support St. James Infirmary, you can donate directly to them here.