Fuck it. Trans folks need MATERIAL SUPPORT.
@distributeaid.org is launching an HRT Harm Reduction Toolkit that provides 1 year of medical supplies needed to take injection-based HRT. We were planning to go live in January, but I'm not waiting.
Fund the kits here: https://distributeaid.org/hrt-harm-reduction-toolkit
@distributeaid.org is launching an HRT Harm Reduction Toolkit that provides 1 year of medical supplies needed to take injection-based HRT. We were planning to go live in January, but I'm not waiting.
Fund the kits here: https://distributeaid.org/hrt-harm-reduction-toolkit
Comments
thank you for doing the hard ass logistics work
I believe we’ll get there but holy shit it’s a lot
🫡
dm me if you ever want to talk shop!
I’m involved in local mutual aid and small town govt in rural upstate NY for the long haul, helping with a fledgling social services satellite office that will soon have a space in our critical access hospital
everything is slow and hard but we are in it to win it
Not to mention it doesn't even help you get the actual DIY HRT lmao
Sick of people pretending to help.
We already have medical aid donors, supply-chain infrastructure, kit assembly capacity, and initial frontline grassroots distribution partners in place.
Now we need YOU to make this a reality by donating today!
https://distributeaid.org/hrt-harm-reduction-toolkit
We will initially focus on the Southeast US, and scale nation-wide by the end of 2025.
It's been less than a day and we've already secured half of the $10,000 in matching donations. With the match, that's 1,000 kits funded so far!!!!
What an awesome thing to wake up to.
Let's keep the momentum up and lock that in by the end of the weekend?
@houseoftulip.bsky.social @blacktranstexas.bsky.social
Instead we are sending the kits to local queer support & mutual aid groups for distribution.
If you have a local support group who'd be interested in receiving these kits, please DM me and I'll give you an email they can contact to get on our list.
We've heard from multiple trans people in the quotes / comments that access to this equipment can be a real challenge. I'd caution you against overfitting your personal experience.
For example, trans women on DIY hrt spend a collective $15,000,000 on these supplies annually.
@distributeaid.org is a mutual aid supply chain org, so we're helping in our lane as best we can. We're also queer led, with multiple trans team members in management positions.
Keeping this in mind for fundraising events
Examples include @toccomeowsix.bsky.social who held a charity gaming stream, and @nora.zone who is donating a portion of the proceeds for these beautiful jewelry pieces. 🥰
AFIK, these kits DO NOt actually have gender-affirming hormones, just the needles and stuff to inject hormones already acquired.
Any block (fed/state will be preventing the sale of hormones for GCA use.
Read the provided link carefully.
We hope to reduce costs for the trans community, which isn't a lot individually but collectively spends up to $70,000,000 / year on these medical supplies.
We also hope to prevent needle reuse / sharing.
Based on our track record running aid responses since 2019, we expect to turn that $20,000 in donations into $200,000 worth of aid delivered by sourcing the supplies for free.
There is a limited amount of 'help trans' dollars available & we need to consider the overall bang for every buck we can get.
1/
Would spending our bucks on that achieve a bigger bang than medical supplies?
That has to be figured out.
Fin/
Becoming useless as a scapegoat may not just be advocacy, either.
But we have a struggle to fund and not a lot of bucks, unfortunately.
BTW, I will be making a donation as I support mutual aid.
Was taking hormones, then moved and lost the ability to continue care.
Why not fund microgrants for people to afford this life saving medication, rather than funding needles that cost less than $20 for a years supply?!
This feels... Like a waste
So we're leveraging our expertise to make an outsized impact for our donors.
1) collectively trans folks spend up to $70,000,000 on these supplies annually, which is a lot of money for the community.
2) If you are an individual who can't access or afford these supplies, having free access makes a big difference.
I've heard they can be found for much cheaper than that.
You can get a years worth of estrogen for waaaaay less in my experience.
Even DIY, which can be more expensive depending on your situation is like 70-90 for 9 months for enanthate. Which is more expensive yes, but not 1,200-2,400.
I'm just really confused here.
But the vials themselves otherwise shouldn't be so expensive. At the very least I don't pay nearly that much per year. I pay like 260 a year.
Not everyone is privileged enough to get from the pharma
Those who need T have an even harder time getting hormones I've heard, so I believe it.
Just trying to survive.
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VCREWCLA6WTB4
This project aims to ensure access to the necessary medical supplies and keep folks safe, regardless of how folks are getting their hormones!
It's not everything, but at scale that adds up to quite a bit!
https://makerworld.com/en/models/560185-diabetes-travel-sharps-bin?from=search#profileId-479421
We do have an open source tech team if you're interested in that! Mostly frontend / backend web dev.
Honestly just searching Instagram for "mutual aid Las Vegas" or "community solidarity Las Vegas" will turn up some good options.
Eir smiles
Please donate if you can and share the original
N Carolina is one of the states we're launching in after the production of the trial batch, but we're not ready to highlight local orgs yet.
I'm sure we'll be able to get most / all the supplies for free from our in-kind donor network, so your donation will go even further! Just gotta cover the costs to ship em, build the kits, and deliver to local orgs.
Please donate if you can and share the original
It wouldn't be possible at all without trans folks on this site standing up for themselves and building support for their community.
We're all in it together! 😊
We respond to actions, you know what I mean? Support is often so surface level that when somebody actually -does- something, we're impressed.
Wanted to provide some direction for all the momentum and start translating it into material support. And in a way that doesn't require permission to do the right thing.
Glad to see it's working!
it's definitely working.
I always have to buy my own syringes and alcohol swabs and sharps containers and all of that, even when I had insurance it never covered it! This helps so much.
1. @distributeaid.org has a solid track record of delivering safe, needed aid since we got started in 2019.
2. We're sourcing the items thru professional medical aid orgs that we've worked with on other responses (Ukraine, Gaza, Helene).
4. Each item will remain in its original packaging. You can visually see sterile items aren't tampered with.
This program is amazing .
The kit includes only the paraphernalia to administer dosages. Which, of course, is worthy in itself, but just wanted to clarify.
While DIY HRT production is something that's already happening- 14% of trans folks are on nonprescription hormones- we aren't involved with that.
can’t wait to see what yall have been up to, once i have this schedule more ironed out.
When you give needles to a trans woman, she uses them to take medicine. There's no 'harm' to reduce. So you wouldn't call this harm reduction. Think about the shit you say.
We aren't involved in the production or distribution of any medication, and can't refer you to anyone who is.
That being said, we're not doing direct distribution but rather stocking up local mutual aid orgs.
i'm a firm believer in harms reduction and access to clean injection supplies. these programs helped me step back from the brink during my darker years.
trans folks deserve the same considerations and safety. thank you so much. 💖
Please email [email protected]
Follow on IG: https://www.instagram.com/_thesasproject_?igsh=eG5xdHIzZnIycHky&utm_source=qr
❤️🏴
Note that the kits do not contain any medications themselves, just equipment like syringes, draw / injection needles, etc.