 |
 |
|
|
JANUARY 2016
Aquarium Trip this Saturday
 Join Philly Family Pride families at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ this Saturday, January 30th at 11am and visit the sharks, rays, penguins and their latest special indoor exhibit – Little Blue Penguins (pictured).
(Note: we postponed the original date of Jan. 23rd due to the blizzard.)
Meet board members Sandra Telep and Gina Cline and their families in the lobby at 11:00am and then for a group lunch at 12:30pm in the cafe. Feel free to bring your own lunch or buy it there. (Pictured below, one table of families at last year's trip.)
 For dues-paying PFP members, the ticket prices are a steeply discounted $11 for kids under 12 and $14 for the 12+ crowd. Toddlers and babies under two are admitted free of charge.
For non PFP members, please join us for $16 for kids and $22 for adults. This is still discounted off the regular admission price of $19.95 and $26.95 respectively.
Note that parking is an additional $10 per car, unless you are pass holder to the Adventure Aquarium, in which case it’s discounted to $4.
 If you would like to join or renew your membership to PFP to qualify for the steeper discount, you can do so here.
Members and non-members, purchase your discounted tickets between now and 9am Saturday morning by buying them through TicketLeap at this link.
If you are already a member of the aquarium and get free admission, please meet the group in the lobby at 11:00am.
 PAID ADVERTISEMENT
PFP New Year's Day Brunch
 PFP parents, prospective parents and kids got together on New Year's Day at Mishkan Shalom in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia to ring in 2016 with our annual potluck brunch.
This year's "pajama party" was a big success with kids and adults alike wearing pjs, slippers and robes. Some couples even had matching pajamas - like new board member Nijah and her wife Janice. (Pictured.)
The breakfast food theme was equally as successful with everything from cinnamon roll french toast to egg casseroles and make your own waffles! Thank you to everyone for going all out and making the potluck food the best yet.
 For entertainment, karaoke DJ "Dr. Thunder" played songs, led some sing-a-longs and dances and let the kids sing the same songs over and over during the karaoke portion of the party. (Which, he commented later, is similar to what drunk adults want to do at the bars where he hosts karaoke nights.)
Songs included "YMCA" and "Rainbow Connection", as well as more recent favorites from "Frozen" to "Uptown Funk."
If you'd like to hire Dr. Thunder (aka Alex Spencer) for your kids or adults party, he can be reached through facebook.com/thunderkaraoke.
Finally, we took care of some PFP business with our annual meeting and elected the following people to the 2016 board in these positions. The photo below is from our first meeting on January 10.
Kelly Durand, Chair
Sandra Telep, Vice-Chair
Joel Nichols, Secretary
Sandy Gilardi, Treasurer
Gina Cline, Fundraising Committee Chair
Paula Estornell, Education and Advocacy Committee Chair
Gregory Girdy, Event Planning Committee Chair
Gregory Hedler, Membership Committee Chair
Nijah Famous, Member-at-large
Bryan Berchok, Member-at-large
Congrats to the 2016 board! If you would like to get more involved with PFP in 2016, sign up for one of our committees!
Here's the annual group photo from the brunch. Thanks again to everyone who attended!
Member Survey: What do you think?
 PFP is committed to remaining as accessible as possible to our membership, planning events that you will love and attend, as well as hosting outings that will interest your family.
Because the needs of our members change often, we periodically use a survey to solicit honest feedback from our members about what works, what doesn’t, and specific events in which you would like to participate to help us plan for the year.
Here is a link to this year’s survey. Please let us know what you think by Feb. 6th. Those who choose to include their email address will be entered to win one of two $25 VISA gift cards. Thank you!
Maybe Baby Group for 2016
 Therapy Center of Philadelphia, in partnership with Philadelphia Family Pride, will hold it’s second 8-week information and support group for LGB women and transgender communities considering parenthood this spring.
We are currently recruiting members for a new group that will meet Monday nights from March 14-May 2. A similar group for cisgender gay and bisexual men is in the works for another location and will be announced this spring.
Maybe Baby offers an 8-week support group experience that will provide information from legal, financial, and medical experts, as well as emotional, social and community support. Members will come out with a sense of their options, how to navigate the process as a queer or trans person, and connect with others on a similar journey.
Meetings will take place on Monday evenings from 6-7:30pm at the Therapy Center of Philadelphia office at 1315 Walnut Street. The group will be co-facilitated by Julie Lipson, MA, MT-BC and Deidre Ashton, LCSW.
Cost for participation for the full eight weeks is $240/couple ($120/individual) for Philadelphia Family Pride members or $320/couple ($160/individual) for non-PFP members. Those not already PFP members can join on our web site.
To register or for more information contact the Therapy Center of Philadelphia at 215-567-1111.
Member Milestones
| Wesley Perry and Tom Sherer will celebrate their 20th anniversary on February 14. Pictured here with their son. Congrats! |
Rik and Anna-Sara Fire celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on January 17th. Congrats!
|
|
|
|
If you have a milestone that you would like to share in an upcoming newsletter, please e-mail PFP Director Stephanie Haynes at stephanie@phillyfamilypride.org.
 Saturday, January 30, 2016: Join PFP on our annual trip to the Adventure Aquarium on the Camden, NJ waterfront. Visit the hippos, rays, sharks and a new indoor exhibit of the tiny Little Blue Penguins. Get your discounted tickets now!
Saturday, February 20: PFP goes roller skating in Frenchtown, NJ (near Lambertville) from 4:30-6:30pm. We'll have the whole rink to ourselves! Cost is $10/family plus $2/person for skate rental or $5/family for non-skaters.
Sunday, February 21: Meet up with LGBTQ parents and their kids 5 and under at the always-popular Smith Playhouse at 10am. (Pictured is the infant/toddler group meetup from January!)
Keep an eye on our Facebook page and Twitter feed for more upcoming events.
"Sex is a Funny Word" Book Review
by Sandra Telep, PFP Board Vice-Chair
 You may be familiar with Cory Silverberg, author and illustrator of What Makes A Baby - and the keynote speaker at PFP’s Family Matters Conference a couple years ago. I loved both the book and his presentation, and I was looking forward to reading his new book, Sex is a Funny Word. I wasn’t disappointed.
Between my own lived experience and professional work, I feel like I have a good amount of practice talking about LGBTQ topics and discussing bodies in a sex-positive way, yet somehow I still find myself floundering for words when having exchanges with my kids about seemingly basic things like gender identity or their bodies.
I have found myself flipping through this book when conversations have organically gone this direction - and there always seems to be a helpful page providing just the right vocabulary and phrasing we need.
There are over 150 pages packed with easily accessible information to help kids navigate their bodies and feelings. Many people think of ‘sex’ as ‘intercourse’, but one of the things I like about this book is that it takes on a much broader scope (barely referencing sexual intercourse at all) - covering topics ranging from private parts to relationships to gender to different kinds of touching, in an age-appropriate way.
I really appreciate that it doesn’t try to take a complicated subject like sex and boil it down to cliches, but rather arms both parents and kids with the tools and frameworks to have these conversations. Each chapter ends with a series of open-ended questions, allowing families to extend the discussion in ways that make sense for them.
 Perhaps my favorite part of the book is the colorful illustrations and diverse set of characters that casually converse through each chapter. They each have a fun and quirky personality, expressing curiosity, skepticism and other perspectives with which many readers will identify.
While Sex is a Funny Word is aimed at older kids (probably most appropriate for the 7-12 set), we are already finding it entertaining and useful with our three and five year-olds, and are looking forward to growing with it.
**************
You can buy Sex is a Funny Word at the following local booksellers: Big Blue Marble in Mt. Airy, Bindlestiff Books in West Philly and Giovanni's Room in Center City.
If you order it through Amazon, please use this link to donate a portion of the proceeds to PFP through our Amazon Smile account.
|
Philadelphia Family Pride
2016 Board of Directors
Kelly Durand, Chair
Sandra Telep, Vice-Chair
Sandy Gilardi, Treasurer
Joel Nichols, Secretary
Paula Estornell, Education and Advocacy Committee Chair
Gina Cline, Fundraising Committee Chair
Gregory Hedler, Membership Committee Chair
Gregory Girdy, Event Programming Committee Chair
Bryan Berchok, Member-at-large
Nijah Famous, Member-at-large
|
Suggestions for what else we should include in our newsletter? Want to sponsor our next issue?
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
