Where do we even begin? It’s a bit of a daunting task to sit down and try and think of words to express how truly thankful we are for the way Earpers showed up to support our Spirit Day 2017 campaign. The kindness and generosity from so many people in the Wynonna Earp community, all around the world, has moved us more than you know. That’s why we wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to everyone who was involved in making this a success beyond anything we could have hoped for. We had goals in mind beforehand, but they were just blown completely out of the water! Earpers, you have once again channeled your “polite no chill” and in the process helped us do a heck of a lot of good.

While a little depressing, please allow me to take a bit of a detour as I let you know part of the origin behind why we wanted to do this campaign. It’s been a tough month. Hell, it’s been a tough year if we’re being honest. I don’t know about you all, but every day I get up and think “what will it be today? What horrible, awful thing happened now? What inappropriate and discriminatory thing did those in power say or do today?” It’s been so easy to get bogged down and depressed by the chaos happening in the world right now. It’s in those darkest and most challenging times I often find myself turning to the Wynonna Earp fandom to show me the light, to make me laugh, to give me hope.

This week seemed to start out a little worse than usual. Not only did we have the ongoing repercussions from the Harvey Weinstein news, where countless women are now speaking up and taking a stand against sexual assault, but the President of the United States joked about Vice President Pence’s discriminatory views of the LGBTQ community.

We know that in the Wynonna Earp fandom there are many members of that community, and “jokes” of that nature cannot be tolerated. Inclusivity is one of the core Earper values, and we wanted to take those awful comments and do something positive to counteract them. GLAAD’s Spirit Day 2017 is about exactly that. Spirit Day is about taking a stand against this very kind of bullying and in doing so, support LGBTQ youth facing harassment simply for being themselves. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to stop focusing on all the negativity around us, and channel our power and energy into something good.

So with that in mind, Bonnie, Kevin and myself decided to set up a campaign within the Earper fandom in honor of Spirit Day. We saw it as a great opportunity to come together, use the power of our “polite no chill,” and put some good out into the world. After all, don’t you just feel better when you’ve spread a little kindness around? Going into it we had some goals, sure we did, but nothing could have prepared us for the way Earpers absolutely TURNED OUT for this campaign. Early discussions between the three of us saw us saying things like “oooh, wouldn’t it be cool if we could get to $3,000? Do you think that could really happen?”

Well not only did $3,000 happen, but $5,000, $6,000 and then $8,000, all the way until I’m waking up Friday morning to see we went over $11,000! $11,000?!?! Are you kidding me? Now I volunteered to write this post, being “the writer” of our little trio, but I really feel like I’m at a loss for words over that fact. Not in our wildest dreams did we think we could raise over $11,000! However, we made a small mistake you see. Clearly we had underestimated the sheer force of nature and power that is the Earper fandom! I’ve said it before, but I now believe more than ever, with Earpers’ kindness, positivity and inclusive nature, you guys really can move mountains!

We are truly blown away and overwhelmed by the way this fandom showed up, gave its support, and took a stand against something that we firmly believe to be a core value of not only Wynonna Earp the show, but this fandom. We have no use for bullies. Whether they be revenant or otherwise, bullies are only stopped when we take a stand against them. There are times when we need to be the ones to do that because others cannot. By participating in this Spirit Day campaign, Earpers showed their solidarity and support against bullying in a way that is downright awe-inspiring.

I know I speak for all three of us when I say that we wish we could thank each and every one of you. For those of you who donated and contributed to GLAAD, we say thank you for your generosity. If you weren’t able to donate, but spread the word for us, we thank you as well. Getting that message out there is so important and we appreciate all of you who did that. It was so much fun seeing messages from Earpers all over the world saying “we’re over $4,000! Can we do $5,000?” Then later on everyone eagerly following right along with us as we toppled the $11,000 mark. As with so many things in the Earper fandom, this was a joint effort and the fact that we all did it together only made it that much more fun and satisfying.

Of course we’d be remiss if we also didn’t thank Wynonna Earp showrunner Emily Andras and the amazing Wynonna Earp writers! Just as I was preparing to go for another “stretch goal,” and raise our goal from $2,500 to $3,000, the Wynonna Earp writers tweeted out a challenge that really got this campaign cooking!

If the fandom raises a total of $5000, we will draw from the donors & name a character after the winner in a season 3 episode! #WynonnaEarp

— Wynonna Earp Writers (@WynonnaWriters) October 19, 2017

Oh how young and silly we were! As Bonnie, Kevin and I were contemplating whether we could hit $3,000, this offer by the writers saw Earpers raise over $3,000 in less than one hour! To Emily and her writing team, we say “thank you” for always showing your support and being so involved in this fandom. The “polite no chill” and Earper values of being kind, positive and inclusive, those all come from the top down. We take our cues from you Emily Andras, and the wonderful team of writers, cast and people you’ve assembled to be a part of this show. You truly lead by example and show us every day that being kind is cool.

In dark times, Earpers you’ve once again proved to be the light and offer hope that goodness, kindness and caring for others does matter. We ALL matter, and when we join together we really can make a huge difference in this world. This campaign went beyond anything we could have hoped for, and warmed our hearts more than we can ever truly articulate. We are eternally grateful to be a part of a group that is so kind, compassionate, funny, generous and caring as you, Earpers. We proudly stand with you, and are thankful every day to call ourselves Earpers as well. This campaign has been amazing. There’s no other way around it. Thank you Earpers, for being our bright spot. Never stop. Kindness truly is contagious and those mountains you all move, they are going to change this world for the better.

With love from the bottom of hearts,

Bridget, Kevin and Bonnie