Because of the women in the shelter often continue to be in danger, the location of the shelter is a closely guarded secret. Our volunteers met at a nearby church, then drove to the secret location, our vehicles stuffed to the gills with food, clothing, toys, bedding, cleaning supplies, cell phones and other shelter wish list items. We even gave cashy money. Yeah, the women of Sweet really stepped up for Harbor House.

Our donations overwhelmed the storage area. We ended up filling external sheds and a pantry at a second house! The residents and staff were thrilled by our visit. Supplies, especially expensive things like diapers and tampons, get dangerously low in the spring and summer. Robin, one of the directors of Harbor House, said they don’t often see donations (especially in this volume) unless it’s the holidays.

As further proof that lesbians are everywhere, Robin came out to us and told us about the training Harbor House staff receive to work with same-sex victims of domestic violence. It’s much more prevalent than we think. In fact, nationwide, one in two women will be victims of partner abuse at least once and one in four women will be victims on a regular basis. That’s shocking.

Luckily, for victims of battery in Central Florida, there’s Harbor House. They are a beacon of hope and a model for shelter’s the world over. If you’d like to contribute to Harbor House, visit HarborHouseFL.com. There are a ton of ways you can contribute.

The Live Sweet Voluntour heads to New York and New Jersey next week and Denver, May 7-9. Join us for some fun and fabulous events. Details.

MODERN MEETS MALNOURISHED
A woman and child sleeping alongside the road wake and begin to stir. Behind them an advertisement asks, “How are your stocks doing?” It’s the contrast that strikes you, the juxtaposition of Wall Street, the Ying-Yang Twins, cell phone companies, churches, mortuaries and malnourishment. The air is muggy and thick. Heavy clouds loom with the promise of much-needed rain. As we crest the hill, you can see the vastness of the slum. It’s overwhelming.

The total area of Kibera comprises less than one percent of Nairobi, but it holds 25 percent of Nairobi’s population or about 1 million people. Row after row of ten-by-ten-foot corrugated steel, dung and wood houses are crammed together. It’s not uncommon for a family of eight to ten to share the 100 square foot space.

The streets are lined with goats, dogs and unidentifiable refuse. Narrow and slick, the road would not be considered passable by American standards. At times, it seems we’re certain to slide into one of the irrigation ditches on either side of us. They appear uniquely designed to swallow our tires. I close my eyes, putting my faith in Daniel, our driver from Gamewatchers. His nerves never falter.

GRATITUDE IS PLENTIFUL
Madame Rachel meets us at the entrance of the school, an alley way and corrugated steel building indistinguishable from its neighbors, save the sounds of children reciting their lessons in unison. Our group of nine crowds into Madame Rachel’s five-by-ten foot office where she explains how the school works. Each morning begins in prayer, the children express their gratitude for another day and another opportunity to learn.

Gratitude is everywhere at St. Lazarus. The children, some as young as 2, know how lucky they are to be in school. St. Lazarus is able to provide the kids with a glass of juice to start their day and a high-protein lunch. It’s often the only thing the kids eat. In the kitchen, the chef counts out the day’s lunch one bean at a time. She’s going to cook lunch for 150 children in one pot over a fire in a barrel.

The children take great pride in learning, proudly singing us songs in Swahili and English. The classrooms are tiny, approximately 300 square feet each, and hold about 50 kids. The children don’t have their own desks. They barely have enough space to put their own elbows down on the tables in front of them. They embrace the closeness, wrapping their arms around each other or jostling each other playfully.

Yes, Madame Rachel wants the kids to learn, but she also loves that school keeps them off the streets. That’s why she starts school at 8am and ends it at 4pm. Homework is important, too, she says. Keep them busy and out of trouble is her philosophy. Her great hope is that her students will go to college and return to Kibera with the skills, ideas and motivation to improve conditions for everyone.

LIVING WITH DEATH
Many of these children are being raised by grandparents or extended family as they lost their mothers and fathers to AIDS. While HIV educational materials are everywhere, shockingly frank educational materials, the disease continues to devastate an entire generation.

The children of St. Lazarus live with death each day. It’s at their doorstep. Literally. The slum is surrounded by funeral superstores, the likes of which I’ve never seen. Think Costco for caskets. Additionally, there are many small shops selling coffins, many in children’s sizes, throughout Kibera. It appears to me that coffins are more plentiful than food.

St. Lazarus School is aptly named as it turns death into life each day, devastation into hope and children into the future of Kenya. It’s a testament to the courage and dedication of Madame Rachel and her staff that gratitude grows in a place where nothing else will.

Guests on our Sweet Kenya Safari delivered school supplies, clothing and hygiene supplies to the school, in addition to donating $300 to help complete a general assembly room for the school. A traveler on our Sweet Caribbean Cruise and mortgage broker Crista Luedtke has pledged $500 to the St. Lazarus School for each Sweet referred mortgage or refinance that closes. Learn more about how you can get a great rate on a home loan and help the kids at St. Lazarus.

It’s easy to have values when times are good. It’s when times are tough that people demonstrate their true natures. Enter Sweet traveler Crista Luedtke (yeah, call her Crista).

Among other things, Crista is a mortgage broker. While the whole mortgage market is collapsing, Crista’s business is growing. Why? She’s got the key ingredient to weathering any storm: Integrity.

She believes that you should “do something you love, do it differently, have fun and give back.” The other day Crista called me with an idea: Partner with Sweet to help the projects we’re working on all over the world. Of course, I said YES!

Crista’s approach to mortgage is simple. “I focus on education and empowerment,” she said. “I want my clients to have the information to make well informed decisions on their financial choices and to be part of the process with me. In buying a home, it is important to be both properly advised on the choices available to you and have the trusted guidance of an adviser who works with each person’s unique needs. I am happy to offer free consultation where you can be assured the most honest approach to lending.”

Here’s the deal: For every mortgage referred to Crista by Sweet that closes, Crista is going to donate $500 to the charity of Sweet’s choice. Each month, we’ll choose a new beneficiary. It’s that simple. When you need a mortgage or refi, call Crista, she’ll find you the best deal available (seriously, she rocks at this) and we’ll make the world a better place. That’s totally Sweet.

Our first beneficiary is the St. Lazurus school in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum. Sweet visited the school during our Kenya safari. That such hope can shine through such poverty is an inspiration. It’s a place where so much is done with so little. The tiny school, less than 3,000 square feet, educates about 150 children from 2 to 14 years old. Most of that space is not used at present because a lack of funds has halted development of a cafeteria / general assembly building, which can be finished for 1,000 US dollars.

If you are thinking of making your dreams of owning or upgrading your home a reality, contact Crista. Email her at crista@fcgmortgage.com or call her at 415.609.7227.

Let’s save the world, one mortgage at a time.

Crista and her partner Jill own boon hotel + spa and boon eat + drink in the sweet, little gay mecca of Guerneville. If you’re in the area, it’s an eco-rific oasis in the redwoods. And seriously, you can’t beat breakfast in bed or getting to take your dog on vacation with you.

When I met DJ Trina Johnson in February 2009, I knew Sweet would be working with her a lot. She’s dynamic, driven and compassionate. In addition to keeping 2,000 women dancing all night long at Babes Around Denver‘s phenomenal First Friday event each month, she’s an accomplished business woman who loves music and making people’s bodies move.

What really struck me about Trina was her heart. She leads with it. All the proceeds from her DJ career go toward her No. 1 passion: Taking care of stray dogs. That’s why she’s totally Sweet.

One of the most popular DJs on our maiden voyage in November, Trina is looking forward to filling our Cozumel resort with music and organizing a community service project to help dogs on the island this September. We’re so proud to have her on our Sweet team. Brava, Trina.

Here’s her story in her own words:

Everyone has their “thing”
While walking home from school one day I noticed a little black dog tied up to the porch post inside a neighboring yard. I quietly walked over to him, untied the rope from the post and brought him home with me. I remember thinking it was the most inhumane, cruel thing I had ever seen. I was only five years old. I snuck him in to the house. He and I lived in my closet for about a week.

I fed him, gave him water, took him outside (even in the middle of the night), played with him, slept in the closet with him. Life was perfect, until my parents found him. I first told my parents that I found him, then I told them he had no home, then I resorted to “his owners were really mean to him and kept him tied up outside and starved him and didn’t want him.”

My mom didn’t fall for it. She looked at the dogtag and called the owner. They came and took him away that day. I really missed him and every time I walked by his house, he was inside. I guess I made things worse for my little buddy.

In the years to come, I must have brought home at least a dozen stray dogs I had found on the streets. They always seem to find me, when they are lost that is. Some I was able to keep, others we had to take to “The Pound” or the owners somehow mysteriously knew we had their dog. Thanks, mom!

Before College, trying to figure out what it was I wanted to do when I grew up, I thought about Veterinarian School. I was at the hospital one day while my sister was having a baby and fainted. I realized that the site of blood and guts floored me, literally. Not a desirable trait in a vet.

For while, I adopted dogs. In 1997, I went to Mexico for the first time. There were dogs running around everywhere. Some with mange, most of them pregnant. I remember my first vision was looking out the window on to the beach, seeing a momma dog walking with 9 or 10 puppies following her. It broke my heart. I went to the grocery store and bought as much dog food as I could carry. Every day, I fed the dogs. I went back every year to Mexico and did the same thing. Eventually, I connected with a Humane Society in Puerto Vallarta. I donated money every year and took flea collars down when I went.

Everyone seems to have a “thing,” like human rights, abortion, hunger, children, etc. I have always donated to local Humane Societies and sponsored animal events in Alaska. After I closed my nightclub in Denver, I didn’t have an outlet to be able to raise awareness or money for the animals down there. It was shortly afterward that I began DJing for Babes Around Denver that I came up with the idea to donate all of my fees to various shelters around the country. I thought, if I could get my name out there, I could raise a lot of money for various shelters. In 2008, I donated $8,000 to various animal charities. In 2009, I donated $12,000. I can’t wait to hit the $20,000 mark.

My reward for it all? With music in my soul and animals in my heart, I get to do two things I love the most. There is no greater feeling in the world than knowing what you do makes a difference, no matter how big or small.

Follow DJ Trina’s adventures in animal rescue.

On the eve of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday and in the midst of a trial to overturn Proposition 8 in California, I was fortunate to attend a Marriage Equality USA fundraiser hosted by the San Francisco cast of Broadway’s “Wicked” (one of my favorite musicals).

The celebration of the birth of the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was a fitting backdrop for this event. Pint-sized powerhouse Patty Duke, who plays Madame Morrible, was on hand to challenge our community to “share our truth.” The Pledge of Allegiance promises “liberty and justice for all,” she said. “There are no exceptions. We’ve gone as far as we can preaching to the choir.” Further, she said that challenging bigotry by sharing ourselves with the world will crumble its foundation.

The ultimate PFLAG dad and one of my favorite people Sam Thoron underscored Duke’s remarks. “We have to tell our truth, always and everywhere,” he said, adding with a wink and smile, “All we have to do is change the whole world.” Sam and his wife Julia have been wickedly involved in LGBT civil rights since their daughter came out over 20 years ago. There was no question in their minds that she should be treated the same as her straight siblings.

Sweet is proud to support the work of Marriage Equality USA. It’s an all-volunteer, national non-profit organization that’s hell-bent on changing hearts and minds through education and meaningful, one-on-one interactions with people who don’t know us, but would deny us our basic civil rights.

As we celebrate great gains in civil rights today, I’m hopeful that we’re drawing closer to fulfilling the promise of our democracy. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir,” Dr. King said in his “I Have a Dream” Speech 47 years ago. It’s time for LGBT Americans to collect our inheritance.

“We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” Dr. King said. In supporting the work of Marriage Equality USA, you can help spread the truth and make equality reign.

When I first met Cathy outside the Monteleone before our pre-cruise party in New Orleans, she looked excited and terrified, but in a tough New Jersey kinda way (a dash of Snooki). I wanted to share her coming home and coming out story with you. Here it is in her own words:

This journey was golden for me, literally from start to finish. Meeting you that first night and the way you welcomed me, set the tone for everything to follow. It was golden. You are golden. I had never taken a trip alone in my life. I was scared to death, but from the moment you started chatting with me as we walked to the first party in New Orleans, I never felt alone.

From your staff to your glee ambassadors to Diana, Kruiser, Frankie, everyone welcomed me along. I was so fortunate to meet and hang out DJ Dirty Kurty, Jen Corday, Wendy and The Flawless ladies, Chantal and the list goes on. I got to enjoy each port getting to know a different group of interesting women. I was not only entertained, but enlightened and inspired. I’m so glad I was involved in the beach clean-up, what a day to remember! I miss them all and I hope they will be in Cozumel in September. Did I mention that the music rocked? I love to dance. I didn’t stop all week.

When I was on that ship, I wanted to shout out to the whole world who I really am. I came home on a mission to tell my family and friends. I tried to hold onto that feeling of support and unity I felt all week on the trip and one by one, I told them. My close friends, my brother, my sister, and my mother all know now, and they still love me. I was just about to tell my son and daughter, but my son decided to surprise us all with his engagement to his long time girlfriend. I didn’t want to pull them off their cloud, so I held off a bit. Telling them will be the hardest thing, but before this week is out, they will know, too. I just can’t wait any longer to start living my life openly.

I went to Henrietta Hudson’s in NYC and gave my favorite bartender a Sweet T-shirt and told her and everyone there how great Sweet is. Hopefully, the word will spread and you’ll keep doing this a very long time. I have a lot of catching up to do, and I wish I could come on every vacation you plan. For now, I’ll just have to wait and see you next September.

I just want to thank you again, not just for a great trip, but for your kindness to me. Thank you, too, for filling the ship with some of the most amazing women I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. You did everything right. I don’t know how, but you did.

It brings to mind something a very special woman said to me a long time ago: “I can’t believe it was your first time!”

We listened with rapt attention as our charming and eloquent guide told us that things on the mainland weren’t so nice for gays and lesbians, but in Roatan (the tiny island off the coast of Honduras where we spent the day) he assured us, “Things were cool as Kool-Aid.”

Unfortunately, no man is an island. This past month, LGBT civil rights rabble-rouser Walter Trochez, 27, became the 17th LGBT person killed for his sexual orientation on the Honduran mainland since last summer’s military coup. Walter was working feverishly to draw attention to the renewed violence against the LGBT community when he was killed.

Walter’s death underscores the work still to be done in building bridges of understanding all over the world. As American tourists, we have the privilege of traveling to these countries in relative safety, like when 1,200 of us invaded Roatan armed with smiles and good intentions. It is these kinds of interactions and the coverage of our good works (like the local news coverage of Sweet in Belize) that lays the foundation for these bridges.

Read more about Walter and the state of the LGBT community in Honduras.