Napa Valley Pride Week Hosts Dine & Donate Fundraiser To Benefit PFLAG Napa

The Napa Valley LGBTQ Pride celebration is in full swing and the most recent event was a fundraiser held today at Mary’s Pizza Shack to benefit the Napa County chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays).

A generous percentage of all purchases from Mary’s Pizza Shack goes directly to PFLAG Napa initiatives to promote the health and well being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

“There’s an estimated 11,000 LGBTQ people in the county of Napa and there’s a lot of support and PFLAG is just a part of that support as well,” says Rosemarie Vertullo, president of PFLAG Napa. “We’re hoping to get involved with the schools and some of the anti-bullying programs and eventually we want to get involved with doing some scholarship programs for the LGBTQ community.”

The Napa Valley Pride organization and PFLAG have been working in concert for some time now to raise awareness and funds to better the outlook for LGBTQ Napans.

“What we do is raise money for PFLAG every year and this year PFLAG in Napa is getting kind of a new start,” says Rick Turko, co-chair of Napa Valley Pride 2013. “We’re just really excited to support a great organization.”

While PFLAG has made great strides as an organization, they continue to focus on support, education and advocacy for all individuals and families dealing with issues involving sexual orientation and gender identity.

“I think that our society has changed quite a bit in the past 20 or 30 years,” says Vertullo. “We’ve seen an incredible change and I think it’s changing an awful lot for the better and PFLAG is a part of that.”