In Focus #5: Fall 1998

Information … How do you stay informed?

Project Inform has partnered with Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center to begin a Treatment Education Certification Program. The program provides certification trainings for case managers and treatment and peer advocates in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. This new program will train frontline workers from many different AIDS service organizations at one time. Successful program completion will enable these frontline workers to answer basic treatment questions of their clients and identify other information sources. To participate, case managers and treatment or peer advocates must be in a CARE-funded position. For information and to register, call Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center at 415-292-3400.

Macy*s West has once again named Project Inform as a major beneficiary of Macy*s Passport ‘98. We are honored to be in the company of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and Magic Johnson Foundation as the only beneficiary organizations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Last year Project Inform received a $50,000 grant from Passport. Passport ‘98 will be held September 16–18 at Fort Mason, San Francisco and September 26 at the Santa Monica Hanger, Santa Monica. Gala Tickets (Sept 17 in San Francisco; Sept 26 in Los Angeles) are available only from Macy*s. General Tickets for all nights are available from BASS. Tickets are available only from Macy*s Passport.

Macy*s Passport ‘98 In Store Event is a great opportunity to support Project Inform and get a discount on anything you purchase on September 19. To participate, simply purchase a $10 ticket from Project Inform. The ticket entitles you to a 10% discount on anything you buy at Macy*s—except cosmetics and perfume—and at Virgin Megastore. All money raised through ticket sales goes directly to Project Inform. If you go to the Macy*s store in San Francisco September 19, Project Inform receives an additional $3. For more information on Passport In Store or to buy a ticket, contact Julie Doherty at 415-558-8669 x223.

Volunteers are needed for both Macy*s Passport Fashion Show events and the In-Store event. For more information, contact Mark Owens at 415-558-8669 x218.

Make a Donation to Project Inform

The generosity of our donors and volunteers enables Project Inform to provide services free-of-charge. Project Inform isan extremely efficient steward of your contributions. In 1997, total fundraising and administrative expenses were 14.3% of the total budget—one of the lowest of any major AIDS organization—and well below national averages for all nonprofits. There are many ways for you to support Project Inform. You can send a check, make a gift of appreciated stock, purchase event tickets, join our monthly pledge program, or help us create a special gift or bequest in support of a particular program. Please return the form at the back of In Focus.

Through Project Inform’s Leave a Legacy: Planned Giving Campaign, you can remember PI in your will or estate plan. The gift could be in the form of a cash donation or of a valuable asset such as stocks, real estate, art, or vehicles. You could also name Project Inform as a beneficiary on your life insurance policy or pension plan. For more information on this and other ways of supporting Project Inform, contact Tom Teasley at 415-558-8669 x209 or tteasley@projectinform.org.

Update Town Meetings

Real audio tapings of Update Town Meetings with Martin Delaney have been added to the Project Inform’s award-recognized website. Now, as you read through the slide presentations of the latest treatment update or conference report back, you may listen to Martin Delaney as he presents the information. The report on the International AIDS Conference in Geneva has been posted. To access the slide presentation and audio, select Town Mtgs / Presentations on Project Inform’s Home Page.

Inspiration … Making a difference

Grahame Perry and Drew Smith were presented with the Annual Bill Bradley Exemplary Volunteer Award at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, April 19. Drew comes in three or four days a week to keep the Introductory Packets in stock, answer the phone, and process mail. Grahame Perry has worked tirelessly coordinating eight volunteers in the redesign and maintenance of Project Inform’s website. See the article on Grahame. The next In Focus will include an article on Drew.

Throughout Project Inform’s history, volunteers have been the lifeblood of the organization. For information on volunteer opportunities, contact Mark Owens at 415-558-8669 x218.

Evening of Hope — Save the Date!

The annual Evening of Hope Dinner will take place Monday, November 2, 1998 at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco. Please contact Julie Doherty at 415-558-8669 x223 to ensure your invitation or inquire about sponsorship opportunities.

Partners in Hope

Project Inform has kept up with growing and moving into a new office space, largely due to the generous contributions of individual donors and corporate and foundation grants. Partners in Hope recognizes those individuals who make an annual gift of $500 or more. These donors are listed on the Annual Report abstract enclosed. We salute them and the more than 3,000 donors who supported Project Inform in 1997. If you would like to receive more information about Partners in Hope, please return the form on the back of this issue.

Project Inform also encourages corporations to become Partners in Hope through sponsorship of special events. Support from the corporate community over the last two years has enabled Project Inform to respond to the diversifying needs of callers to our National HIV/AIDS Treatment Hotline, completely redesign our website and initiate Project WISE—a new program focused on enhancing services to women with HIV. Sponsorship opportunities include Evening of Hope, Holiday Card Project, Immune Restoration Think Tank, Ron Wilmot Bike Ride, and others. For information on becoming a Corporate Sponsor, contact Julie Doherty at 415-558-8669 x223.

Donations Online

You may now make secured donations of any size directly from Project Inform’s website. Just click the donation button on our home page. You will see how to make your donations to Project Inform this convenient and safe way.

AIDS Walk Report

Project Inform was once again a beneficiary of the San Francisco AIDS Walk and fielded its own team of 45 walkers on July 19. Project Inform will receive a grant of $50,000 from the AIDS Walk fund this year.

Holiday Card Program

Get an early start on your holiday card lists! For a suggested donation of $5–$10 per card, Project Inform will hand-address, sign and mail a card for each person on your holiday card list, noting your donation in that person’s honor to Project Inform. To participate, fill out the enclosed insert. We accept MasterCard, Visa, American Express or personal check as payment. If your list is large or if you want to discuss a special card project, contact Julie Doherty at 415-558-8669 x223.

Combined Federal Campaign and Workplace Giving Programs
Fall is the time for workplace giving. Project Inform is very grateful for the nearly 1,000 individuals from across the country who support us through the Combined Federal Campaign, United Ways and other workplace fundraising campaigns. Please look for Project Inform (CFC Workplace name: AIDS Education and Advocacy—Project Inform) when your office campaign begins this fall. Thank you!

Planned Gifts and Requests

Project Inform is grateful for the following recent bequests:

The Estate of Joan B. Brown
Dorsey T. Leard Trust
Richard A. Polak, jr.
The Estate of Neal Pozner
The Estate of Richard A. Smith
The Larry Joe Silva Trust

For information on making a special gift to Project Inform or to join Leave a Legacy by indicating that Project Inform is included in your estate planning, please contact Tom Teasley at 415-558-8669 x209.

My name is Grahame Perry

I’ve been volunteering for Project Inform since 1989/90. I felt I could make a contribution by being on the Hotline. I did this for several years and found it a very powerful experience. The contact we have with other HIV+ people, their families and friends lets you know what an immediate effect one has on helping people cope with HIV.

Around 1995, I saw the possibility of posting our materials on the burgeoning technology of the Internet. Initially, I worked on putting materials on HIVNet in Holland—the bulletin board where ‘common folk’ went. About a year later, I moved the information to the HIVNet webserver. Shortly after, Paul Buckley volunteered and helped develop the website. Since then, the web project has grown. We’re now getting praise from constituents and great support from staff.

We’ve added several volunteers to the project. Dave Thomson specializes in advanced technologies such as slides and audio recording. Steven Weaver, Eric Halquist, Eric Chow, Kirby Demott, and Matt Stroud conduct HTML coding. Federico Serrano and Lucho Merino have translated many documents with help from Matt Stroud while Steve Weaver designs and manages the Spanish language website.

People around the world access the Internet in large numbers. I see it as another avenue for Project Inform to provide available information quickly to many more people than we’ve traditionally been able to reach before.

My name is Nena Walby

This was my first AIDSWATCH in Washington, DC. I was nervous and excited about participating in an event that would send a message to our federal elected officials that this epidemic is not over yet. I wanted to let them know that now is not the time to cut funds but rather increase funding for all services required by those living with HIV and AIDS.

I chose education and prevention as the themes I wanted to impress upon my elected officials, having been diagnosed at the age of 30 after my boyfriend (now deceased) was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. At the time, we were absolutely clueless about this disease. We hadn’t heard a lot about it except that it was a “gay disease” which couldn’t possibly affect us. Believe it or not, many in the heterosexual, middle class community are still very naïve, believing that it can’t happen to them. That’s why we still need education in all communities.

Most of the legislators’ assistants I met with were a lot like me: middle class, white, and in their 20s and 30s. I could tell by their body language when I told my story that my message was making an impact. Everyone thanked me for being so courageous and wishing me luck in my life. If I had ever had any doubts about going public to further the cause of HIV/AIDS advocacy, I don’t now. I encourage everyone who can go to Washington next year for AIDSWATCH ‘99 to do it! It was a very empowering experience for me, and I truly believe that one voice CAN make a difference.

Advocacy … What is PI doing for you?

The Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology presented Project Inform with an award of acknowledgement for its contributions. Institute Director, Dr. Warner Greene, presented a plaque at the annual Volunteer Dinner honoring Project Inform. Specifically, Project Inform was recognized for organizing the Immune Restoration Think Tank, stimulating the creation of the Linda Grinberg Foundation for AIDS and Immune Research, providing the most up-to-date HIV treatment information available, and advancing an advocacy agenda that has helped shape the research of the NIH and speed the access of drugs through the FDA.

The seventh meeting of the Immune Restoration Think Tank was held in San Francisco, March 1998. The Think Tank, a highly regarded component of Project Immune Restoration, brings together a multidisciplinary, international group of researchers and physicians to develop plans for future research intended to restore immunity in people with advanced HIV disease. The meeting emphasized basic research questions that remain despite an overwhelming amount of new information from studies of the immune consequences of new potent combinations of anti-HIV drugs. A summary report is published in PI Perspective #25. For the full report, contact the National HIV/AIDS Treatment Hotline at 800-822-7422.

Grassroots Advocacy

Through the grassroots advocacy of the Treatment Action Network (TAN), Project Inform has worked to remove the federal ban on funding to needle exchange programs. TAN members and others sent Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 300 letters asking her to declare support for needle exchange programs. Although Clinton has expressed his support, the likelihood the ban will ever be lifted is far from certain. If you are interested in becoming involved in TAN’s work on needle exchange, contact Ryan Clary at 415-558-8669 or rclary@projectinform.org.

Youth are now one of the leading groups becoming infected with HIV. Project Inform has been actively working with youth organizations such as BAY Positives and HIFY to assist them in helping HIV positive youth make appropriate treatment decisions. Project Inform also has a representative on the Community Advisory Board of the San Francisco Department of Health’s Special Programs for Youth, enabling us to raise questions about AIDS treatments for youth in San Francisco.

Project Access, a new program begun this year to help people with problems accessing HIV treatments and/or diagnostic tests, has been successful in connecting people to good sources of information. It is solving access problems or, at the very least, starting people on the road to a healthful solution. If you experience similar problems, call the National HIV/AIDS Treatment Hotline at 800-822-7422.

AIDSWatch Report

Over 300 people living with HIV/AIDS, service providers, and their advocates convened May 3–5 in Washington, DC to participate in AIDSWATCH ‘98. The event was coordinated by the National Association of People With AIDS with national and regional organizers, including Project Inform. Participants met with their federal elected officials to discuss the need for increased funding for all research, care, prevention and housing programs. The main goal of AIDSWATCH seeks to ensure our federal policymakers hear firsthand from those most affected by the epidemic in their own districts. The next AIDSWATCH will likely take place in May 1999. For more information, contact Ryan Clary at 415-558-8669 or tan@projectinform.org.

The Ron Wilmot Bike Ride for Project Inform
We would like to thank the 52 registered riders, the hundreds of friends and organizations whose donations totaled over $75,000. Thanks go to all the volunteers and donors of food and prizes that made the day such a terrific success! Congratulations go to Bill Hofmockel who won the grand prize of Five Nights in Jamaica and round-trip travel on American Airlines.

1998 Ron Wilmot Bike Riders

Sandi Aldrich Jorge Alonso Kathy Bailey Hazel Betsey Arthur Binder Annette Brands Susan Brautovich Frank Cefalu Brad Chenoweth Tom Christensen Ben Collins Danny Cusick Michael D’Arata Melissa Egan Michael Ginther Peter Grady David Gellman

Jim Gutschick Kevin Harwood Bill Hofmockel Kyle Hogan Alex Ingersoll Laura Kennedy Quin Kennedy Ron Kos Ron Lezell Steve Mayers Suzanne Medina Joe Moch Alexa Natanson Lyssa Newhall Jim O’Donnell Mark Owens Dave Perillo Pam Perillo

Jenny Perillo Mickey Perillo Valerie Rivers Joe Schmitz Theresa Schreiber Jim Shean Doug Siddall Larry Smyle Gregg Solar Scott St. Onge Tom Teasley Rod Thornton Ken Turner Deborah Udin Eric Whitney David Winckoski Abby Zimberg

 

Event Patrons
American Airlines
Castro Lions Club
Frontiers Newsmagazine
The Gap Foundatio
Pacific Bell Foundation
Dr. Robert Perkins and BWB Trust
Total Communications and Steve Hutnick
VooDoo Cycles
Patricia Wilmot

Underwriters
Alvin Baum, Jr.
Steve Breslauer
N. Peal Cashmere
John Hill, Jr.
Cumberland Real Estate
Ink, Inc.
Eileen Keremitsis
Negril Tree House and Gail Jackson
Victoria Solursh
Nadene and Frederick Whitney

… and special thanks
to all the Project Inform Volunteers and the donors who supported the riders!