Our First Fundraiser Was a Chessboard in a Park

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Promoting Queens has been mostly out of pocket for years. Every board, every trip, every lesson plan has come from wherever the team could find it. That worked for a while, but it also had a ceiling. There is only so far a small, self-funded team can stretch.
This summer, we decided to try something different and ask our community to be part of building this with us.
Queens in the Park is our first ever fundraiser, and it started with something simple. Take chess out of the classroom and put it in the middle of a public park, where anyone walking by could sit down and play.

Stop One: Washington Square Park

On July 12, the team carried chess boards into Washington Square Park and set up, not knowing what the day would bring.
Then people started showing up. A parent slowed down to look. A kid pulled their mom over by the hand. Within an hour, strangers who had never met were sitting across from each other, playing a full game like it was the most natural thing in the world.
There was one kid who would not leave. His parents tried twice to get him to go. He just kept looking at the board like it had more to say to him.

It was hot enough to fry an egg on a chessboard. And still, people who had never heard of Promoting Queens sat down, played a game, and then asked how they could help. Nobody asked them to.

Why This Matters

Nobody was in that park to just play chess on a Sunday.
Promoting Queens exists because access to a game like chess is not something every girl gets handed. It has to be built, one board and one afternoon at a time. When it is there, something real happens. A girl sits down, thinks for herself, loses without falling apart, and realizes she belongs exactly where she is.
Every dollar raised through this fundraiser goes toward getting more boards into more hands, in more communities, for more girls who are still waiting for their turn to sit down.

What's Next

Washington Square Park was stop one of four. Three more stops are coming as part of our summer fundraiser. Dates will be shared soon.
None of Sunday happens without the people who made it real. Thank you to the team who showed up and made stop one possible: FM Abimbola Osunfuyi, WIM Omya Vidyarthi, and Patricka Vidyarthi, who came all the way from California to be there.

Thank you as well to the volunteers who were not officially part of the team but showed up and gave their time anyway, and to everyone who stopped, sat down, or donated that day. Thank you to Gift of Chess for the boards. This only works because people decide to be part of it.

If this story moved you even a little, we would love for you to be part of what comes next. You can support the fundraiser here: GoFund me
Three more parks. One mission, built together.