Drag Bingo Meets Volunteer Power in Project Helping Pride Event

Pride 2025 comes at a time when celebration alone doesn’t feel like enough. With increasing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights under the Trump administration’s second term, especially targeting trans people, youth and access to affirming care, many in the community are grappling with fear, frustration and fatigue.

So, if you’re looking for more than just a place to party this Pride season, there’s a space for that. On Sunday, June 15, from 4 to 6 p.m., Hamburger Mary’s Denver is hosting Mary’s Gives Back, a fundraiser and volunteer event organized by local nonprofit Project Helping.

Equal parts drag show and volunteer project, the event combines fabulous entertainment with meaningful action through the creation of LGBTQ+ Kynd Kits for distribution at PrideFest in Civic Center Park.

“I operate from a perspective of: what do folks need on an immediate level?” says Rachel King, MSW, supervision & workforce development manager and member of the Pride committee for the Spark by Project Helping. “What’s a low-impact but high-reward thing we can offer people? I really see the value in handing folks their resources directly.”

The event is split into two parts. Indoors, drag queens Freda Slaves and Axel Lexa will command the mic for a raucous round of drag bingo. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the game starts at 4 p.m.

"Of course, there will be delicious food and drink, including Jell-O shots, and all proceeds will benefit our organization," King says. "The fundraising is kind of a secondary goal of this event, which folds in how we made it an all-ages opportunity. While it will be 21-plus in the main stage, out on the back patio, we're facilitating a Kynd Kit build."

Outside volunteers of all ages can grab a marker, a mocktail and a seat at the kit-making table. People can drop in anytime during the event to build one or more of the personalized kits, which include items like a journal, DIY pronoun pin, pride flag, decorated card and more.

The goal is to build 100 kits on-site, which will be part of a larger effort to distribute 500 kits at PrideFest the following weekend. Each kit takes between fifteen and twenty minutes to make, and volunteers are encouraged to be as creative as they want.

“This is an opportunity to be super artistic and express support for the LGBTQ+ community," King says. "It's really important that we utilize community members to support community members. Building these Kynd Kits together as a collective is a really unique way to do something different that directly gives back for Pride."

And for those who want to keep tabs on their impact, Project Helping offers a way to register your kit and receive a notification when it’s given to someone in need. "It doesn't share any additional information beyond that, of course," King says. "But it's cool to know once it's been put in someone's hands."

The Kynd Kit program is the centerpiece of Project Helping’s mission to provide direct, personalized resources to people in need. Kits are created in partnership with community organizations, such as Envision : You, a mental health nonprofit that helps LGBTQ+ people, with whom Project Helping collaborated on the LGBTQ+ Kynd Kits.
“We identify what the needs are for the communities receiving the kits, and we design the build experience to be interactive so volunteers feel involved throughout,” King says. For King, who has long worked in direct service and social work, this hands-on approach is crucial.

"There are so many logistical obstacles that can get in the way of people receiving what they need," she says. "By handing these kits directly to folks at Pride, we’re removing those barriers. There's real value in handing folks resources directly. That being said, I also love the personalization of it. It shows that somebody sat down to say, ‘Your existence is important to me, and you have my direct support,' which is really powerful."

King also hopes that the event’s location will make it more accessible to city dwellers who may not have time or transportation to travel to Project Helping’s main office in Centennial.

“Not everybody wants to schlep it to Centennial,” she says with a laugh. "So what can we do in Denver that can invite people to more easily access this volunteer opportunity? Because I have a relationship with Hamburger Mary's, I thought, ‘Let's get a Mary's Gives Back event going.’ We’re hoping to draw in some folks who maybe don’t even know what Kynd Kits are yet. We are a little nervous because it's Father's Day, but we're hoping for some good attendance all the same.”

If you’ve wanted to make a difference during Pride but didn’t know how, this is your chance. Come for the bingo, stay for the kits and leave knowing you’ve helped build something beautiful. And, with Pride being such an important time for visibility, particularly this year, King sees it as part of a larger movement toward compassionate action.

"I've been going to Pride for as long as I can remember, but it's always somebody's first Pride," King says. It's always somebody's first time feeling seen. It's sometimes their first time even questioning their own identities, so creating a safe space where folks can feel empowered and validated and then also receive something small that isn't mass-manufactured — there's something really special about that."

Mary's Gives Back: Drag Bingo Fundraiser & Volunteer Pride Project by Project Helping is from 4-6 p.m. Sunday, June 15, at Hamburger Mary's Denver, 1336 East 17th Avenue. The event is free. Learn more at eventbrite.com.