Fall 2009 - San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Volunteer
newsletter
The
fall 2009
Tough Times Didn’t Break Our Stride!
H
opefully you heard the news… With a
record number of registered walkers (
286 ) and the highest number ever raising $25
or more ( 141 ) TEAM SFAF has done it
again… as of the close of AIDS Walk 2009,
TEAM SFAF raised a record $58,604; $2,050
over last year. For all who were there, walkers,
setup and take-down crew, and those who
worked the SFAF booth, WAY TO GO!
When
Emily
Mariko-Sanders,
our fantabulous volunteer coordinator,
shanghaied me into the team captain position,
I without thinking, goaled myself at $1,000…
immediately thinking…OMG! What have
I gotten myself into? But I made it, and so
did many other TEAM SFAF Walkers achieve
Star Walker status including: Christa Brothers,
AIDS WALK contintued on page 6
AIDS/LifeCycle 8 2009 O
Cyclists, roadies and volunteers in action!!
Editors
Keith Hocking
Emily Mariko-Sanders
Event Photos
SFAF Volunteers/Staff
Design/Production
Judy On
n May 31st, the eighth annual
AIDS/LifeCycle began its
seven-day, 545+-mile journey from
San Francisco to Los Angeles. The
over 2650 participants ranging in
age from 18 to 78, from 41 states
and 14 nations included novice
cyclists as well as event veterans, all
of whom raised at least $3,000. Over
$10.5 million, crucially important
funds were raised for the HIV/
AIDS-related services of the L.A.
Gay & Lesbian Center and the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation. The
Roadies, as the participants who
volunteer for all 7 days of the ride
are known, are not expected to raise
any money but this year raised over
$295,000!!!
Contributors
Mimi Cove
Debra Holtz
Alice Mai
James Morrow
Kevin Roe
Emily Mariko-Sanders
Diego Sans
Peter Taback
We b s i t e L i n k s :
www.sfaf.org www.tspsf.com www.aidslifecycle.org www.pgaf.org
www.begreaterthanone.org www.aidswalk.net/sanfran/
The effort of taking a week
of one’s life away from family, work
etc. is hard but to add working as a
volunteer for much/most of every
day for a week is an incredible
undertaking. Most Roadies will
tell you they may have signed on
for many different reasons but they
keep coming back for the amazing
community. A community that
looks after one another as extended
family and one that is so focused on
supporting the health of those with
and without HIV.
One volunteer wrote of
Orientation Day and the community
thereof:
ALC contintued on page 6
IN THIS ISSUE
In the News - p 2-3
Dore Alley Update - p 4
Magnet Update - p 5
HPP News- p 6
Volunteers of the Month - p 7-8
Upcoming Events - p 9
IN THE NEWS
fall 2009
page 2
Pangaea’s Goosby Chosen by President Obama
to be Global AIDS Coordinator
I
n 1979, Dr. Eric
Goosby was an
intern at University
of California San
Francisco when he
encountered his first
case of what he later
realized was HIV at
San Francisco General Hospital. The
patient was a 22year-old Haitian man who was in the intensive care unit for treatment of a rare form of
lymphoma. Goosby was able to stabilize
his patient that first night, but the young
man would die two weeks later.
In the months and years to come,
as this previously unknown and unnamed
disease was killing young men in the gay
community in San Francisco and other cities around the country, Goosby would be
one of the doctors at the center of the early
response to HIV/AIDS.
Three decades after that first encounter with the disease, President Barack
Obama nominated Goosby -- currently
CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation -- to the
position of Global AIDS Coordinator. On
June 19, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and left his post at the San Francisco
AIDS Foundation’s global affiliate to take
up the reins of PEPFAR – the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – that has
supported treatment for more than 2 million people around the world since 2004.
Goosby’s medical practice and
public health policy role have steadily expanded over the last 30 years, taking him
from San Francisco to Washington and then
to countries in Africa, Asia and Europe in
the battle against emerging HIV epidemics
around the world.
“Some of the lessons we learned
at the beginning of the epidemic have great
relevance today, including the importance
of focused prevention efforts and comprehensive care and treatment for people with
AIDS,” he says.
For the first 10 years of his career,
Goosby was an integral part of the AIDS
team at San Francisco General Hospital,
working as medical director of the clinic
serving one of San Francisco’s poorest
African-American neighborhoods before
moving to San Francisco General’s AIDS
Clinic as associate medical director from
1987 to 1991.
In the early ‘90s, Goosby was
tapped by the Clinton administration to
play a new role in Washington, D.C. He
was deputy director of the White House
National AIDS Policy Office, director of
the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy of the Department of Health and Human Services,
and was the first director of the Ryan White
CARE Act, which provides funds to community AIDS programs around the United
States.
Goosby returned to San Francisco
in 2001 to lead the newly formed Pangaea because he knew the time was right
to turn his attention to international work.
Pangaea’s early efforts focused on broadening access to HIV antiretroviral therapy
in resource-limited settings with projects in
Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda: “When
O
I first visited the countries in Africa so
devastated by AIDS in the late ‘90s, I
felt like I had been transported back in
time to San Francisco before the advent
of antiretroviral drugs,” says Goosby. “I
recall my incredible frustration standing
in hospital wards in Rwanda, Tanzania,
and South Africa and watching people
die. I knew then that we had to find a
way to bring treatment to the people in
these countries.”
In Goosby’s testimony before
the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 9, he stressed themes
that would guide his work if confirmed:
intensifying HIV prevention, pursuing
strong country partnerships, strengthening health systems, and boosting effective programs to achieve better health
outcomes.
“The history of PEPFAR has
demonstrated what can happen when
we dare to think big,” Goosby testified.
“Working closely with our global partners, we can help reclaim the lives of
millions of people who will otherwise be
lost to the infection.”
n July 28, Gov. Arnold
accommodate it.
Schwarzenegger slashed
What’s more, cutting public fund$52 million in funding for HIV/
ing jeopardizes our capacity to
AIDS programs on top of the
achieve the end of HIV and AIDS.
more than $30 million in cuts
Never before has there been a moagreed upon by the Legislament like this. Following years of
hopeful panaceas, we finally know
ture. The massive budget cuts
what it takes to beat HIV once and
leave no state funding for HIV
for all. Scientific evidence imbued
prevention, education, testing,
with community experience
counseling, early intervention, therapeutic Commentary by CEO mean that resources—time,
Mark Cloutier
expertise and funding—remonitoring, home and
ally do equate with success.
community based care,
At the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, ador AIDS housing.
As long as this country suffers equate dollars to buy clean syringes leads
from an HIV epidemic, there will never be to a quantifiable number of high-risk acts
a right time to cut services nor a popula- averted. Keeping Magnet’s doors open
tion that can sustain a dramatic reduction in longer means more people can be tested for
support. Even in a discouraging economy, HIV infection, more people can be screened
any budget plan that targets HIV and AIDS for STDs, and more people can receive the
puts an undue burden on those least able to
CLOUTIER contintued on page 3
IN THE NEWS
fall 2009
page 3
Lessons Learned in San Francisco Transported to Kiev
T
he battle against AIDS began nearly
three decades ago on the streets of San
Francisco. Now one of its most forceful
warriors is Pauli Gray, the San Francisco
AIDS Foundation’s community educator,
who speaks as effectively about HIV prevention to the city’s homeless as he does
to Bay Area schoolchildren. Gray so impressed filmmakers during a recent interview for a documentary about HIV that
they flew him to Kiev a few weeks later to
share harm reduction strategies with Ukrainian needle exchange workers and their
clients.
During his five days in Kiev,
Gray advised them about safe injection
techniques, safe sex practices and how to
administer the overdose prevention drug
Narcan while also assisting with HIV test-
Pauli Gray with Exchangers in Kiev.
ing. The scenes were captured by cameras
for the film funded by the Nelson Mandela
Foundation titled “It Could Never Happen
to Me.” Focused on HIV among young
people, the documentary is being shot in
locations around the world, including San
Francisco where the crew also captured
outreach by the Stonewall Project’s HOTeam in the Castro about the risks associated
with the use of crystal methamphetamine.
While overseas, Gray learned that
preventing the spread of HIV in Ukraine is
a huge challenge because of the stiff penalties faced by intravenous drug users caught
carrying as few as one or two dirty syringes.
As a consequence, groups of drug users use
clean needles supplied by exchange workers but share the same syringe barrel to
shoot the low-grade opiate known there as
“himka.” The syringe inevitably becomes
contaminated with the blood of the various
users, increasing the risk of HIV transmission and fueling the country’s AIDS epidemic.
“This law is killing people,” says
Gray. “If users could have their own barrels, they wouldn’t be sharing blood. But
instead HIV rates are through the roof.”
Injecting drug use, a growing
problem in Ukraine, is the main mode of
HIV transmission in that country. It is estimated that up to 59 percent of injecting
drug users are HIV-positive and that the
number of Ukrainians with the virus has
more than doubled since 2001.
One night, Gray traveled through
high-risk areas of Kiev on a bus used to provide mobile needle exchange, basic medical
care and HIV testing – something not done
in San Francisco. During a two-hour shift,
he was shocked when all 10 clients tested
HIV-positive. Even more discouraging was
that one woman left the test to perform sex
work so she could secure drugs for the following day.
“People there seem resigned, but
not surprised by their HIV diagnosis,” says
Gray. He learned that antiretroviral drugs
are not widely available in Ukraine and
only people who develop AIDS symptoms
are eligible for treatment.
On account of the rigid drug laws
and lack of HIV care in Kiev, Gray compared harm reduction efforts in that city to
the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic in
San Francisco when activists were hopeful
despite great odds.
“They’re doing remarkable work
with the limited resources they have,” he
says. “While there is a sense of defeatism
about the difference grassroots work can
make against such a huge problem, they
still do it because it’s the best they can
do.”
CLOUTIER contintued from page 2
culturally competent care for which Magnet is known in the Castro and beyond.
But the bigger story here is protecting a system of care that benefits everyone. Around the country, the pendulum
is moving away from accepting health
disparities towards improving access. We
may be a far cry from universal coverage,
but our reform-minded president has already signed legislation to provide health
insurance for disadvantaged children and
the unemployed, and has made affordable
coverage for all a priority. By agreeing to
implement a National AIDS Strategy, President Obama put HIV and AIDS at the top
of a crowded health reform list.
In the Bay Area, communitybased organizations have been national
leaders, stabilizing infection rates and
markedly improving health for people living with HIV. As we forge ahead with innovative prevention activities based on sound
science and make inroads in an entrenched
epidemic, public understanding—and the
public funding that comes with it—must
follow.
fall 2009
W
DORE ALLEY
THE UP YOUR ALLEY FAIR
orking as an intern at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Dore Alley
was one of the highlights of my summer.
As a pre-medical student, I can honestly
say that this internship has been my most
educational experience, and I learned more
about disease prevention during my three
months here than in my three years at college. One of the things that struck me most
during my internship was the Foundation’s
commitment to providing help without
judgement of personal lifestyle choices. I
have done a lot of work with sexual health
education in the past, but never have I
worked in an environment as sex-positive
as that which the Foundation fosters, and
my experience at Dore Alley epitomizes
this.
When
I
signed up to volunteer for Dore Alley,
I really had no idea
what I was getting
myself into. Coming from cities with
more conservative
indecent
exposure laws than San
Francisco, I would
be lying if I said I
wasn’t surprised and mildly uncomfortable
when stepped into the half-naked, leatherclad crowd. It wasn’t long, however, before
my eyes adjusted and I got over my ini-
page 4
tial shock. I loved that the Foundation got
into the spirit of the fair, down to the volunteers’ leather costumes and the “Who’s
Your Daddy?” paddles we handed out. The
effort that the Foundation makes to cater
to the ideals and needs of the community
with which it is working is really wonderful. I was pleasantly surprised that even
among event-goers for whom unsafe sex is
in vogue, we garnered a lot of interested inquiries and received $428.44 in donations.
It really goes to show how effective truly
community-based initiatives are.
By Alice Mai
Longstanding Hotline Volunteers
Paula Tarr and Barry Henderson
I
n 1995, President Clinton established the first Presidential Advisory
Council on HIV/AIDS, the first protease inhibitor for HIV treatment
was approved by the FDA, Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis disclosed he was HIV positive, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
joined the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center as a beneficiary of California
AIDS Ride 2. That same year, Barry Henderson and Paula Tarr took
the training to become HIV/AIDS educators at the Northern California AIDS Hotline, two years before it got the contract for the entire
state. Amazingly, both Barry and Paula are still active volunteers at the
Hotline! That’s fourteen years of selfless dedication; fourteen years of
listening, counseling, comforting, helping.
Both Barry and Paula agree that it has been a pleasure to have
been around the Foundation for such a long time. “Meeting so many
staff and volunteers has enriched my life”, says Barry, who’s the longest serving Hotline volunteer, beating Paula by a mere four months.
“I must be insane,” jokes Paula. “I really enjoy working on the Hotline,
although I never thought I’d be here so long.”
In all those years, who knows how many calls they have taken,
how many new infections they have prevented, how many times they
have helped ease the pain of people in need?
Although we will never know the exact number, we do know that
their contribution has been enormous. “It’s rewarding to offer people
real hope in the face of their fears,” says Barry. And we at the Hotline
couldn’t be more grateful to both of these outstanding volunteers.
fall 2009
MAGNET Update
page 5
M
agnet’s volunteers are busier than
ever during Street Fair season. Magnet continues to serve the sexual health
needs of gay men in San Francisco this
summer, while also keeping the Castro
neighborhood hopping with its line-up of
free community events.
All of this couldn’t be done without our most important asset – the volunteers that keep Magnet running day and
night. Whether on the front lines as a Concierge, HIV/STI Counselor, or Licensed
Clinician; supporting the administrative
and back-office functions; staffing community events and closing up Magnet safe and
tight for the night; or, getting the word out
about Magnet and the San Francisco AIDS
Foundation at festivals, parades, and other
fundraising events, each volunteer brings
a level of dedication that has become synonymous with the Magnet customer and
community service model.
Did you know that Magnet is projected to see 9,000 customers in our clinic
this year with only three full-time clinical
staff? That would never be possible if it
were not for the 70+ active volunteers
donating on average three and half hours
each week as HIV and STI Counselors.
This doesn’t even include the significant
amount of time they need to dedicate for
the training and shadowing required for
certification, much of which requires taking days off work to complete. Why do our
volunteers, like all SFAF volunteers, give
so much? Because they see the impact of
their work every time they step inside the
Magnet storefront. Jasmine Major, who
has been volunteering for close to a year,
captured this sentiment nicely recently
when she told me:
“Magnet has given me the opportunity to do my part in HIV prevention.
Interacting with the amazing staff, volunteers, and customers is the added bonus.”
Dean at the booth
Jesmine at the desk
Who volunteers at Magnet? Doctors, Nurses, Massage Therapists,
Hypnotherapists, Phlebotomists, and lots of men and women without clinical
experience, but committed to Magnet’s vision, “To promote the physical, mental
and social well-being of gay men” in our community.
How can you become a volunteer at Magnet? The first step is to attend one
of our monthly Volunteer Information meetings to find out more, including what
opportunities exist and how you can get one of those cool new “Check Your
Dipstick?” Magnet Volunteer shirts. Our upcoming sessions will be held at Magnet
on:
•Tuesday, October 13th from 6-7pm
•Saturday, November 14th from 10-11am
•Tuesday, December 8th 6-7pm
If you want to learn more about Magnet and see what volunteers do, contact me
and confirm for one of the upcoming Volunteer Information meetings, stop by our
storefront at 4122 18th street, check out our website at www.magnetsf.org, add
us as a friend on Facebook (Magnet SF), or visit us at our booth at the upcoming
Castro Street Fair on Sunday, October 4th.
The booth will be right in front of Magnet’s storefront. We’ll be getting the word out
about Magnet and making personalized postcards for fair-goers with that special
Magnet edge. What do you want yours to look like?
Happy Volunteering!
Steve Charfauros
415.581.1608
[email protected]
HPP News
fall 2009
AIDS WALK contintued from page 1
Troy Brunet, Cal Callahan, Shannon
Casey, Jonathan Deason, Charles Familetti,
Sarah Gluckstern, Tilmin Hudson, Barbara
Kimport, David Kimport, Gary Lamb,
Jeffrey Leider, Micah Lubensky, Nancy
McCormick, Russell Mendivil, Jay Purcell,
Mike Richey, and Tom Perrault topping the
list at an incredible $7,850! There were
great gifts in each category, I hope you
each received yours and are enjoying them.
Thank you AIDS Walk office for the great
incentive gifts.
There was no shortage of great
food and drink throughout the day. We
again partnered with Wells Fargo for lunch
and a great continental breakfast welcomed
us at registration.
And how about the new T-shirt?
This was my third AIDS Walk volunteering
with the Foundation and each year I am
amazed how much attention our T-shirts
get. This year was no exception. The team
shirt featured SFAF’s new yellow and black
logo with each of the Foundation’s event
logos featured on the back. Registrations by
people who wanted the T-shirts, contributed
greatly to the overall total we achieved.
While TEAM SFAF beat last
year’s total, AIDS Walk missed last year by
one million dollars. We are all painfully
aware of the economic situation and the
cuts to the state budget which are having
a direct effect on the efforts of SFAF in
our community. This combination makes
the imperative for our fundraising efforts
even greater. Thank you for reading this
and please consider getting involved at the
Foundation and its future events. For more
info go to: sfaf.org/volunteer/current
Finally, I can personally say
how grateful I am for the experience of
participating in this year’s Walk but also
for the opportunity to give back to the
Foundation after all it has provided me
over the years. Thank you San Francisco
AIDS Foundation, thank you TEAM SFAF
Walkers and volunteers, thank you AIDS
Walk, thank you, thank you, thank you.
By James Morrow, Team Captain
page 6
HIV Prevention Project is excited to be hosting a monthly
Syringe Exchange at Leland House, a Catholic Charities
CYO’s program that helps people of all faiths. An agency of
the San Francisco Archdiocese, they operate as an independent
organization, offering permanent or supportive housing
programs for people living with HIV/AIDS, psychiatric
disorders and substance abuse issues. HPP’s Pauli Grey will
also present educational Harm Reduction discussions to the
residents of Leland House as part SFAF’s continued commitment to raise community
awareness around safer injection and safer sex practices.
The Speed Project’s Terry Morris will offer a safe injection slide show and
discussion until the end of September every Saturday during exchange hours (3 to 11
pm) at HPP’s Sixth Street Needle Exchange Site at 117A Sixth Street between Mission
and Howard. Terry’s presentation is free and open to all members of the public. Program
participants are invited and encouraged to participate in the peer education-based
discussions in a friendly, safe and judgment-free environment.
HPP will offer its next Needle Exchange Volunteer Orientation on November
14. This all-day training is presented by the wonderful and knowledgeable staff of HPP
and is aimed at educating new volunteers about all aspects of our exchange program. If
you know of anyone that would like to volunteer with HPP, please contact Jahaira Fajardo
at [email protected] 415-487-5130. There is still room in the upcoming training!!
By Mimi Cove
ALC contintued from page 1
“…This was my second year
volunteering for the AIDS ride and I have
to say I enjoyed it even more than the
year before. The people were awesome
and I really and sincerely appreciate the
efforts of all the volunteers.
I received many thank you’s for being
there and even saw some familiar faces
from last year that I remembered and
even remembered me. I met a pos. ped*
rider that left such an impact on me
that I will carry with me forever…This
is an event that I will continue to look
forward to volunteering in the future
and hopefully next year even become a
roadie…”
(*The Positive Pedalers are people with
HIV who participate in the HIV rides.)
Day six of this year’s ride was
unusual. It started raining in the early
hours of Friday and didn’t stop for rideout the next day. The roads were slick,
there was limited visibility and we had a
long, cold, down-hill on a freeway with
aggravated drivers with whom to contend.
It turns out the conditions were so bad that
the CHP closed the route to cyclists. Some
cyclists were out on the route and many
were being held at camp. All participants
were wet and their stuff soaked. No one
had gotten very much sleep with the rain,
the waiting time was LONG due to the
complicated logistics and the potential
for emotional breakdowns/tantrums was
looming large over the camp.
At one point, I asked if long-time
Volunteer Captain/Roadi Devin Wicks,
who is also a Fitness Instructor, would be
willing to conduct a stretching class for
the cyclists. Without hesitation he grabbed
a megaphone, gathered a group of about
100 participants, stretched them all out and
more importantly kept them busy! This is
not an isolated incidence of what volunteers
are enthusiastically willing to do to make
the ride work smoothly.
As I looked out over this
impromptu class, the playground filled with
cyclists playing and heard all the laughter
throughout camp; I realized that there was
a general “o.k. we will be fine attitude” that
you will NOT find in the general populous. I
really believe that if it weren’t for the smiles,
patience and constant encouragement of
the Roadies and other volunteers related to
this event, it would have been a powder keg
of tired, cranky people. Volunteers like you
are responsible for that! Bravo!
By Emily Mariko-Sanders
VOLUNTEERS of the Month
fall 2009
March 09
Lenore Sheridan
Lenore began volunteering for Syringe Exchange a year and a half ago and
now serves as a health educator for the California HIV/AIDS Hotline. Having
retired from her job as a Veteran’s Administration clinical data manager, she
says volunteering for the Foundation “is a way I feel like I can constructively give
back to the community.” Lenore learned about the Foundation’s work and need
for volunteers from a local newspaper article. She calls Syringe Exchange “a
truly wonderful program that I wish more cities and counties would have.” And
she describes her work on the Hotline offering reassurance and referrals as
“very worthwhile. Lenore’s supervisors say she brings a great sense of humor
and insight to her work for the Foundation. They say she is always eager to
contribute in any way she can and travels all the way from San Jose for her
Hotline shift every other Tuesday afternoon. It is truly great to have you with us,
Lenore. Thank you!
April 09
Employment Plus
Top row left to right: Dominic Tomasini (job coach), Josh Brown, Ricky McNaulty,
Ling Lao, Edward Pellegrini (job coach). Bottom row left to right: Carol Levy,
Marissa Gerardo, Diane Saltzer, Toukisha Austin, Donna Brown.
Employment Plus is a non-profit agency serving adults with developmental
disabilities since 1968. Its goal is to enable individuals to become fully integrated,
participating and contributing members of the community in which they work and
live. Employment Plus volunteers have been with us since March 1998, doing
various in-house tasks for Needle Exchange. Thank you Employment Plus for all
your hard work and dedication.
May 09
Brent Michael Gannetta
A veteran of the AIDS Rides back east, Brent Michael Gannetta burst onto
San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s event scene last year as a Roadie on AIDS/
LifeCycle’s Bike Parking team. He quickly followed that up as the Bike Parking
captain for the inaugural Seismic Challenge in October and assisted in Greater Than
One’s recruitment outreaches. Brent’s can-do attitude and his mix of participant
care and entertainment led Greater Than One to ask him to spearhead the >1
Volunteer Corps, who staff the sites and aid stations for the triathlon and marathon
trainings. Brent accompanied the triathletes to Wildflower at the beginning of May
- making sure they were well-prepared before the race, cheering them as they
ran past camp, and caring for them on their bus ride home. Switching back to
AIDS/LifeCycle, Brent volunteered for Day on the Ride, will be participating in
the event’s Upload and will serve as the Camp Signage Captain during the ride.
After a short breather, he’ll be back to support >1’s marathon trainees in their runs
leading up to the San Francisco Full or Half Marathon. Because of this tireless
devotion to the Foundation’s event participants, Brent Michael Gannetta is May’s
Volunteer of the Month.
page 7
VOLUNTEERS of the Month
fall 2009
June 09
Rachel Frazier
Rachel Frazier has been a part of the AIDS/LifeCycle ride and the San Francisco
AIDS Foundation for the past 6 years. In addition to helping out as a captain and
now the Operations Deputy for the ride, Rachel has volunteered countless hours
of her time as a fundraising expert and office worker. She has been the voice of
the foundation at fundraising events for several years, giving fundraising tools to
participants and bringing her unbelievable wit and charm to any situation. This past
year, she spent many days of the week helping in pre-production for AIDS/LifeCycle
and accomplishing many desperately needed projects for development. She is an
intricate part of our volunteer work force and to be sure, Rachel is a volunteer super
star!
July 09
Edward Liu
Edward’s Bio: My volunteer career began in February 2002 when I worked as
an outreach educator handing out condoms in bars, clubs and bathhouses as
well as on the streets talking about safer sex with the Whitman-Walker Clinic
in Washington, D.C. I never thought talking about sex could be so much fun
and yet addictive. Over the past seven years, I also had the chance to facilitate
weekly HIV/AIDS support groups for newly diagnosed and long-term HIV/AIDS
clients and work with community leaders as board of directors for D.C. Capital
Pride. The passion I have for serving my community continued as I moved
here four years ago. As a volunteer, I have worked with medical teams at UC
Medical Center Hematology/Oncology Unit and San Francisco General Hospital
Emergency Department, and for Glide Health Services and Haight-Ashbury Free
Clinic as a registered nurse. Since August 2005, I have had the honor to become
part of the Magnet family. This is what I do for the people I identify with and care
about the most, and I would not have done it any other way.
August 09
Alice Mai, Emily Martin & Joey Shemuel
Alice Mai, Emily Martin and Joey Shemuel come to us as interns from Stanford,
Dartmouth and Columbia University respectively. Individually Alice, Joey and
Emily were incredible volunteers each bringing a diverse knowledge base, and
skill set with tremendous energy. They all completed the California AIDS/STD
Hotline training and served as educators on the Hotline for several months. They
each brought extensive understanding, compassion and an astounding measure
of decorum to even the most unusual/difficult of calls. Their work on the Hotline
along with their training in harm reduction allowed for an easy transition into work
with Client Services and the HIV Prevention Project/needle exchange sites.
Beyond the client services, Emily, Joey and Alice worked as a team all summer
to make sure that a myriad of projects including surveys, databases, events,
outreaches, and speaking engagements were handed to perfection. Together
they created and executed an HIV educational presentation for several speaking
engagements. When asked about this dynamic trio, one staff member said “They
have such positive energy! Always willing to do everything. They were always
inquisitive, wanting to learn. Like a ray of (expletive for emphasis) sunshine and
we’re bummed they aren’t here any more!!!” True that.
page 8
UPCOMING EVENTS
fall 2009
September
City CarShare
Think global, share local. City CarShare offers hourly access to hundreds of fuel-efficient cars without the
costs of ownership. City CarShare is
offering the following special discount
to the volunteers of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation:
• $30 in driving credits
• Waiver of the standard $300 deposit for new members
(Valid for ShareLocal or SharePlus
until December 31, 2009. May not be
combined with other offers).
Contact Cal Callahan at ccallahan@
sfaf.org or 415-487-3065 for the >1
participant promo code to activate
discount. Sign up at www.CityCarShare.org. City CarShare is a
Bay Area nonprofit on a mission to
improve the environment and quality
of life by providing car sharing as a
means to reduce car ownership and
usage.
October
Seismic Challenge
Saturday and Sunday, October 17th
and 18th, 2009 Crissy Field, San
Francisco
The Seismic Challenge is a two-day,
200-mile cycling fundraiser for the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation. The ride
this year will be the faults that surround the bay starting and ending in
San Francisco. Volunteers work with
us in San Francisco sending the riders
out and welcoming them back.
•
Saturday October 17th, we will
be setting up, checking the riders in,
etc. We get the cyclists off to an early
start so we need people 4-7am (10
volunteers) and 6-10am (8) Yes, it’s
early but take it from someone who IS
NOT a morning person, it is REALLY
exciting and you can still go home and
sleep in!!!
•
Sunday October 18th, the
cyclists return to San Francisco! We
need to be ready for them so we will
set up, provide the cheering crowd as
well as food, water, t-shirts, their gear.
We will check them in, hear stories of
the ride, provide words of encouragement and breakdown the event. We
need people 9am -1pm (10 volunteers), 1-5pm (9), and 5-8pm (10).
Please contact Emily Mariko-Sanders
at [email protected] or 415-487-8081.
page 9
ing conference bags. There probably
will be more demand than volunteer
shifts, so we will probably not be able
to take every request for volunteering.
As such, the Volunteer Subcommittee
has decided that we need to institute
an application process. If you would
like the volunteer application, please
contact Emily Mariko-Sanders at
[email protected] or 415-487-8081.
AIDS/LifeCycle Training Ride
Kick Off
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Sports Basement Presidio, San
Francisco
This event represents the start of
the AIDS/LifeCycle 9 training
season and as our biggest fundraising event we want to support
the participants in style. We need
enthusiastic types to help checkin cyclists, prepare and hand out
breakfast snacks/beverages, cheerleading, etc. ~7am -10am. Please
contact Emily Mariko-Sanders at
[email protected] or 415-487-8081.
United States Conference on
AIDS 2009
Thursday through Saturday,
October 29-31, 2009
Hilton San Francisco
United States Conference on AIDS
2009 will be held in San Francisco,
October 29-31. This is a great national
conference that has an overabundance of wonderful information and
the latest updates about HIV / AIDS
(see http://nmac.org/index/2009-usca).
Since the conference registration is
fairly expensive and since a fairly large
corps of volunteers is needed to help
the conference run smoothly, the conference organizers recruit many volunteers. In exchange for volunteering a
full day for the conference, volunteers
will receive one full day’s admission
to the conference. There should be
fairly wide interest across the region
for those volunteer-in-exchange-foradmission slots. Volunteering slots
will be available even a week before
the conference for things like stuff-
January
AIDS/LifeCycle Kick Off Party
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Mezzanine (444 Jessie St. between
5th and 6th), San Francisco
The Kick-Off party represents the first
party of the year for AIDS/LifeCycle
and historically it has been a blast!
The Kick-Off Party gathers registered
riders, their guests as well as people
who have expressed interest in the
ride. It is hoped that anyone who
hasn’t registered yet will decide to ride
based on all the fun they have at the
party with all of us! We expect at least
600 participants and we would love to
have you there to help support their efforts! We will be setting up, doing coat
check, guest check-in, giving directions, having fun, loading the vans for
their return to the foundation. 12-5pm
(40 volunters) Please contact Emily
Mariko-Sanders at [email protected]
or 415-487-8081.
fall 2009
UPCOMING EVENTS
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