I am George, your recently elected co-chair. I’m 26, and I’ve been living in Wellington for the last 8 years. Before that I was at high school on the Kapiti coast, so Wellington’s always featured in my life as the nearest big city. My personal interests are gender and sexuality, oral history, and youth development. Also I am very good looking. I have been involved with WGWG for just over a year and have gained a lot from my experience in volunteering for Gay Helpline, attending the Lesbian Drop-in group, and in helping facilitate School’s Out.
We are facing complex challenges in our organisation. These include the impact of the recession on our funding base, and the trend towards a declining number of calls to the Helpline. This may mean we need to raise the profile of WGWG, and think about new ways that people may seek help from us.
Youth programmes such as School’s Out, GBLT Sandwich and Tranzform continue to be a crucial point of contact to queer youth in Wellington. Our website is currently being tweaked to offer more to clients, such as information about sexuality and connection to our services. Use of technology also helps our members provide a better service, for instance through the ability to take calls at home and the searchable Redbook.
Strengthening the profile of the group is crucial to the sustainability of the services we provide. As a WGWG member, you have committed your time and energy to your community through being a support and guide to people questioning their sexuality. We have an opportunity to enlighten the public and our membership on the contributions that WGWG makes in the community.
This is the blog of Gay Wellington, officially known as the Wellington Gay Welfare Group (WGWG).
