Writer raises $10k for LGBTQ homeless youth center through Twitter

A write proved the power of social media this weekend when he raised over $10k for an LGBTQ homeless youth center.

Thrive Youth Center, located in San Antonio, Texas, made a Facebook post about the generous donation yesterday.

‘Something amazing happened yesterday,’ the post begins.

Serrano is a San Antonio native. He’s a writer, illustrator, and former teacher. His book The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed was a 2015 New York Times bestseller.

On Saturday, he tweeted to his more than 158k followers he was donating to the Center and invited them to join them. He then followed up with a thread about LGBTQ youth suicide and the importance of places like Thrive.

there’s a place called The Thrive Center that is working toward helping them and that community — shoutout those people forever

— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) August 19, 2017

When all was said and done, they donated $10,742.61.

Serrano included this message with the donation: ‘Hi. I’m Shea. I’m part of this thing called The FOH, which, mostly we just d-ck around and make jokes on the internet but occasionally we make donations to places we think are cool. Y’all are cool and important. Here’s $10,742.61.’

‘A safe and supportive center for homeless LGBTQ youth’ 

On Thrive’s website, they reveal of the 1.6 million homeless youth in the United States, 40% identify as LGBTQ.

They also provide facts for why they end up homeless and what they face. 60% of them don’t feel safe at school and 62% attempt suicide compared to 29% of heterosexual homeless youth.

As they write, their mission ‘is to provide a safe and supportive center for homeless LGBTQ youth so they may become productive, skilled, educated, and successful adults with the ability, opportunity, and possibility of achieving their dreams’.

‘We cannot begin to express our overflowing gratitude to you, Shea, and your amazing friends for making this world better for our youth who feel left behind and forgotten,’ Thrive finishes in their Facebook post. ‘Thanks for bringing so much hope and happiness to us!’

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