“Having something like this would have impacted me so much 15 years ago.”
That message from drag performer Empress Claudia Silva set the tone Sunday as more than 200 people gathered at Queen’s Landing for Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Big Brunch fundraiser supporting youth mentorship.
The brunch ran from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and included a catered buffet through Queen’s Landing, a raffle for a year’s worth of brunch, and a prize wall. The fundraiser aimed to raise $40,000 for the organization’s in-school mentorship program.
The event brought together Pride Niagara drag performers and a youth-serving charity in a deliberate pairing, one that organizers say reflects a real overlap in the populations they serve: young people who may not find acceptance or stability at home.
Franklyn Searle, director of fund development and communications at Big Brothers Big Sisters, said the money raised will go directly to the in-school mentorship program, including its work at Crossroads Public School in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
“It’s a really important program and we’ve had a lot of student engagement and attendance increase because these youth are able to have a mentor in school.”
In that program, volunteer mentors visit the school once a week and spend an hour with a student, working through activity bins stocked with board games, crafts and sports equipment, or simply talking through difficult situations.
“A lot of people are always convinced that our mentors are a bunch of young 20-year-olds that are lively and are cool and hip, but a lot of our mentors are actually retired,” said Searle.
The need for that kind of steady, consistent presence is sharper for some youth than others.
In Canada, one in four 2SLGBTQ+ youth reported suicidal thoughts in 2021, compared with one in 20 of their heterosexual, cisgender peers, according to Statistics Canada.
“Mentorship is such a big part of their lives and they go through a lot of having a chosen family, because sometimes their family isn’t as welcome to them,” said Searle.
Empress Claudia Silva, one of three drag performers from Pride Niagara alongside Macy Manolo and Kristy Kenzie, spoke from the stage about growing up in the Niagara region.
“If this would have been something that I knew was there, I would have just started so much earlier,” she said.
“I would have given back to my community so much earlier. I would have felt stronger and more empowered so much earlier.”
Searle pegged the fundraising target at between $30,000 and $40,000, depending on how the raffle and prize wall performed.
“This is our second annual, so we’re really hoping to come back here, third annual, and every year we’re trying to make it bigger and better,” said Searle.
