New Charity Donates $1,000 to Wilton Manors Gay-Straight Alliance

David Vincent was looking for a good cause, a grassroots organization that fit the mission of his new company Live Free Be Strong (LFBS). As it were, a chocolate and peanut butter cupcake helped show him the way.

Vincent's marketer and friend Michael Goodman had just finished his lunch at Wilton Manors's Humpy's Pizza, when he ordered the double-flavor cupcake. That's when the principal of Fort Lauderdale High School walked in. She needed multiple cupcakes, and needed one more chocolate and peanut butter. Goodman offered his, promising that he hadn't touched it.

The two ended up sitting and chatting, the conversation slowly turning to Goodman's rather dark high school history and the need for people to pay it forward. The principal recommended Goodman get involved in her school's Gay-Straight Alliance chapter, and a bulb was lit.

It wasn't long before Vincent knew all about the chapter, excited at how well it fit LFBS's mission.

"I was so impressed with their goals - a lot of bigger organizations get funding, and we support them," Vincent told SFGN. "But a handful of struggling kids who try to make this work at a local school, pushing for equality, that really set the mood for me."

And so it came to be that LFBS's first move would be donating one thousand dollars to the chapter, an emotional move for the president and vice-president of the student chapter.

"We're so incredibly thankful to [LFBS]," said Jacqueline Faerman, a 17-year-old junior and the VP of the chapter. She said that both her and Alex Corso, the founder and president of the chapter, were in tears when they heard the news. Corso started the chapter because he believes that every school should have one, and that FTL High School was just a start of what he hopes to see become a string of schools opening chapters.

"They're responsible for promoting tolerance and acceptance, giving students a safe place to discuss their LGBT issues." Principal Robeiro said about the GSA chapter. "It's an opportunity for students to talk without being judged." She added that LFBS is the first organization to have gotten involved with the school's GSA program.

To Vincent, this is the culmination of an idea that started long ago.

"I always knew that I was going to do something not-for-profit," He explained. One of his son's friends had taken his own life. The child wasn't gay or bullied for being gay, but was facing other hardships and other kinds of bullying, Vincent said. He struggled fitting in. "That was my drive. There were no clear signs that the child was going to take his own life. That was my first push - these kids are in front of us everyday."

And with his son's friend as motivation, as well as a push from his own friends, Vincent started LFBS, which means to live life the way one sees it, the one with which one is comfortable.

"It's about freedom, having a choice to be who we are and living our lives accordingly," Vincent said. "You've got to come to grips with who you are and what you're all about before things will get better."

Michael Goodman remembers that the toughest part of high school was physical education. No one wanted to be on his team, nor chose him for theirs. If someone is overly sensitive, these types of environments may hold someone back.

"When you're that age, and you're dealing with being different and others are calling you out maliciously over it. It was a lot of weight on a young person's shoulders - they would chase you, and taunt you. It was a nightmare," Goodman said. "But then I realized one day, 'You know, I'm a good person.'"

LFBS's first fundraiser is centered around t-shirts. All of the proceeds from the sale of these t-shirts will go to anti-bullying organizations.

To learn more about LFBS, go to www.livefreebestrong.org.