There is a dimly lit room with white, sprawling cloth in the shape of a hammock on the ceiling and walls leading up to a shining chandelier; a wooden dance floor leads to a fully stocked backlit bar; numerous guests chatter while swaying to the soothing sound of a clarinet. This was the fundraiser Gala for Rainbow Café.

Rainbow Café is an LGBTQ wellness center based in Carbondale, Illinois. This gala raised money to help it battle healthcare disparities in Southern Illinois. Rainbow Café also uses numerous grants to help propel itself toward their goal of healthcare equality.

To reach this goal Rainbow Café often asks for help from volunteers in the community. Kallie Cox, a former volunteer, says the environment of Rainbow Café is its greatest strength.

“The feeling was just very warm. And also the space was eclectic. I mean, there is a huge library of different mismatched queer books, I mean, crazy decorations everywhere, and just a very welcoming environment” Cox said.

As a volunteer, she would often oversee the youth that came to the center. She made sure no fights broke out, would offer advice, and be a helping hand for anything they needed. She also helped operate some testing for HIV/AIDS.

According to the Unaids Organization, over 38 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2021. Chair of the Board of Directors at Rainbow Café, O.J. Duncan, says Rainbow Café is trying to combat these growing numbers by distributing pre-exposure prophylaxis.

“It is a pill that is taken once a day that greatly reduces your chances of contracting HIV. So it makes it effectively zero” Duncan said.

It distributes this pill to members of the LGBTQ community all across southern Illinois. Rainbow Café also helps distribute food to LGBTQ youth who may not have access to any at home. Executive Director of Rainbow Café, Carrie Vine says it recently got a grant that helps it do that.

“We even got a food pantry grant that will help us stock up our food pantry. So if we have youth that do not have food, if we have people in the community without food, we will be able to have that as an option for them as well” Vine said.

As executive director, Vine handles many of the grants that Rainbow Café has received and will be receiving. One of the recent ones it got was called the ARISE grant. It was given to organizations across Illinois to help combat healthcare disparities. Rainbow Café split its money into two parts.

“The first $5000 was for youth programming, to help fund more outreach programming. The second half of the grant I wrote for the grease group and this group is specifically for LGBTQ elders 50 Plus, and also those aging with HIV” Vine said.

To extend its outreach to youth in southern Illinois, Rainbow Café began going towards other locations rather than expecting people to come to it. It has been going to Anna and Jonesborough once a month and it has hopes of expanding to Marion, Benton, and Franklin County. To help LGBTQ elders, Rainbow Café is simply trying to get them more involved. Rainbow Café had been trying to get more publicity and plan more social events.

Rainbow Café has many upcoming events planned in the future to engage the elderly but to also engage the entire LGBTQ community as a whole. Johnny Gray, a longtime associate of Rainbow Café and member of the Soil Sisters, says the events it does around Christmas time are very beneficial to the LGBTQ community.

“They usually do a queer-mas. A kind of alternative Christmas for folks who feel like they have stress with their family and want to get together with their chosen family.” Gray said.

Rainbow Café also has events like parade floats, a trans day of remembrance ceremony, and casual get-togethers with members of the LGBTQ community to show them the support system Rainbow Café can provide. Dr. Jeffrey Kellog, a board member of Rainbow Café and a child and adolescent clinical psychologist, says this support system is essential for the well-being of youth in the LGBTQ community.

“Many years ago, I recognized that kids who are coming out, kids who are trying to figure out who they were, really need a place to experience that and feel accepted and supported. And I recognize living in a rural area in the Midwest means that was not common” Kellog said.

This support system is only a small part of its mission for a better community. Rainbow Café wants to provide a safe place for healthcare, guidance, and everyday life. Gray says this mission comes with a lot of pressure but it feels responsible to see it through.

“We build community together, and the energy of Rainbow Café, the energy of Soil Sisters, and all of the kinds of organizations that are coming out of Rainbow Café is very much responsible for building the community that we want to have. So people step up, they volunteer their time, and their energy” Gray said.

A massive help in this goal of theirs was the recent grant Rainbow Café received called the Ivax grant. It allowed the organization to provide better healthcare and increase its full-time staff.

“That was a grant that actually allowed me to go full time and for our youth programming coordinator to go full time as well. And that has to do with COVID vaccine outreach and they are specifically wanting to do outreach for people that are unhoused. So we're actually doing outreach at the Center for Impairment and Justice” Vine said.

The grant also focuses on LGBTQ youth and the healthcare access it has. Rainbow Café was chosen since it is mainly focused on youth in the area. It is worth $112,000 and will go until the end of May. Some plans are to buy covid and HIV/AIDS testing devices. The organization wants to set up small testing areas in numerous locations across the area in the hopes of reaching as many people as possible.

That is essentially their entire goal. Rainbow Café aspires to make southern Illinois a hub for any and all. No matter race, sexual orientation, or gender. The organization is hoping to inspire everyone in the community to do the same with some help along the way.