Edgewater Castle FC’s Pride Weekend Raises Funds for Gerber/Hart Library and Archives

CHICAGO - Edgewater Castle FC closed out Pride Month with a weekend that acted as both a celebration and a cause, partnering with Crust Fund Pizza to raise $731.98 for the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, the largest LGBTQ+ library in Chicago and the Midwest. 

Crust Fund Pizza donated 100% of its Pride Weekend sales to the cause and ECFC contributed $5 from every merchandise purchase over the weekend to that effort, which goes directly toward keeping the organization’s doors open.

For ECFC President and Owner Andrew Swanson, the weekend reflected values the club tries to carry year-round.

"It's super important," Swanson said of the weekend. "We're always trying to be a club that is incredibly standing firm in its values of inclusivity, and the fact that the game is for everyone."

Swanson said partnerships like ECFC’s with Gerber/Hart have been a part of a larger effort by the club, built around supporting efforts that matter to the surrounding neighborhoods in Chicago. The goal was always to push back against the idea that spectator sports have become “ultra-corporatized” and distant from the communities which teams play in, offering locals a chance to be a part of something that feels accessible to everyone. 

Gerber/Hart is celebrating their 45th anniversary this year, operating without support from universities or government oversight and continuing to collect and preserve LGBTQ+ history across Chicago and the Midwest. 

"A lot of people don't equate the LGBTQ+ community with the sports community, but they've always been incredibly interconnected," said Michael Rashid, Development Manager at Gerber/Hart, pointing to the Gay Games and groups like Chicago Pride — formerly the Chicago Gay Hockey Association — as recent additions to the archive's collection.

Rashid said the timing of the support feels especially significant amid widespread bans of LGBTQ+ literature in recent years. While Illinois has protections against the banning of books, Rashid noted that many of the neighboring states do not, putting Gerber/Hart as “a lighthouse” for the broader region. 

"Just because something is taken off of a website somewhere, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore in physical form at Gerber/Hart," Rashid said.

Despite the over four decades of operation, Rashid says that Gerber/Hart is still relatively unknown to much of Chicago and that partnerships like with ECFC is a step to help change that over time. 

The collaboration in honor of Pride Weekend capped off a weekend described as energizing across all three groups, with Crust Fund Pizza owner John Carruthers pointing to neighborhoods such as Edgewater and Ravenswood as the exact kind of close-knit community that made the partnership feel like a natural fit.⁠

“That’s the great thing about living here,” Carruthers said. “I spend all morning on my phone thinking about how much the world sucks and how terrible everyone is. And then I go outside, and I see some sunlight, and I disabuse myself of the notion and meet the coolest people anywhere. There’s no place like Chicago.”

Donations to Gerber/Hart can be made year-round at gerberhart.org.