In Focus: Winter 1996

Project Inform Welcomes ...

We would like to welcome a new member to the Project Inform Board of Directors, Steven L. Hutnick, owner of Total Communications, a graphic design and print production company based in Oakland, California. New members of the Project Inform National Board of Governors are Michael Saag, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and David Ho, MD, Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York City.

Supporting Project Inform

The generosity of our donors and volunteers enables us to offer a range of services free-of-charge. Contributions from our constituents provide 70% of our total revenues, one of the highest percentages of any AIDS organization. Other funding comes primarily from private and corporate foundations. Project Inform receives no government funding.

At year-end, there are many ways to support Project Inform. Consider making a gift in memory or in honor of a friend or loved one, have PI volunteers prepare and send your holiday cards, or join Partners in Hope, a major individual gift program. Headed by Susan Brautovich, Partners in Hope promotes annual donations of $500 and more to Project Inform. Approximately 20% of our annual budget is funded by these contributions. They may be made by check, Visa/MasterCard or as a monthly or quarterly pledge. To join Partners in Hope, or to get more involved, call David Mills at 415-558-8669.

Special Events

Project Inform’s Third Annual “Evening of Hope” took place on September 27, at the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It recognized the contributions of Dr. Paul Volberding and the AIDS Research and Support Team at UCSF’s Center for AIDS Research at San Francisco General Hospital, as well as the hundreds of volunteers and activists who help Project Inform complete its mission. The event was a great success, and we thank everyone who contributed. Please note the box listing major supporters of this year’s Evening of Hope.

A Special Thanks

The 1996 Evening of Hope was made possible by many volunteers and donors. Some of those whose support was particularly significant are:

Abbott Laboratories Steven Abbott Stop AIDS Project AIDS Project Los Angeles Alza Corporation Bristol-Myers Squibb Matthew Fust The Gap Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Milo Gates Gensler; Gilead Sciences Glaxo Wellcome, Inc. Linda Grinberg The Linda Grinberg Foundation Hill and Knowlton Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. James C. Hormel Hueblein, Inc. Harold Huttas Ed Winger Immuno Diagnostic Laboratories Curtis Ingraham and Richard Smith Levi Strauss & Co. Macy*s West Michael McCune; MD Karen McCune; MD Justin McKendry; MD Mr. and Mrs. Anthony P. Meier

Merck, Inc. A.L. Nella & Company Roche Molecular Systems Gavin C. Newsom Rod O’Neal Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Pacific Telesis Pharmacia & Upjohn Project Open Hand Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rosekrans Roxane Laboratories, Inc. San Francisco AIDS Foundation Allen A. Schuh Sheraton Palace Hotel Shugart Matson Marketing Communications, Inc. Steele Foundation Erik Sterling and Jason Winters - The Sterling-Winters Co. The Steve Silver Foundation Transamerica Corporation Twelve Oaks Hospital Wells Fargo Ron Wilmot Vertex, Inc. Jennifer Walker

 

Holiday Card Program

We are very pleased this year to offer a Holiday Card, designed by Rachelle Mark, a Project Inform supporter and volunteer in Los Angeles. Sadly, Rachelle’s husband Dr. Howard Mark, passed away due to complications of AIDS shortly after she designed the card. We would like people to know that every use of the card not only helps Project Inform, but honors Dr. Mark as well. The printing of the card was generously donated by Total Communications. You may purchase eight cards and envelopes for $12.00. Or even better, Project Inform volunteers will help with your Holiday Card list from hand addressing and signing to mailing, all for a suggested donation of $5 to $10 per name. For more information, or to get a sample of the new card, please call the Development Office at 415-558-8669.

Other Holiday Support

There are many ways to help Project Inform while shopping for the holidays and year round.

Under One Roof, the Shop for AIDS Relief (2362B Market St, San Francisco), has an array of gift items. Those marked Project Inform or coded number 36 directly support us.

Cole Hardware’s philanthropic program has named PI one of it’s beneficiaries. Just tell the clerk at any of their three stores (956 Cole Street, 3312 Mission Street, and 70 Fourth Street, SF) you want to support Project Inform and give them the code 1965; 10% of the tab will be donated to PI.

Community Thrift Store (623-625 Valencia Street, San Francisco) is another fine place to shop, as well as a great place to donate your excess belongings. When you donate, tell them you want your gift to benefit Project Inform (code number 18), and we will receive the proceeds from the sale of your items. Plus, you get a tax deduction!
Stadtlanders Wellness Center (8th Avenue at 17th Street, New York City) also has a great array of gift items, and those marked Project Inform directly support us.

We are grateful to these generous stores for all they do to support so many worthy AIDS organizations.

Updates

The Linda Grinberg Fund for Advancement of AIDS Research is being created at Project Inform in honor of the many significant contributions Board Member Linda Grinberg has made—both with her tenacious spirit and her generosity. Donors designating their gift to the Linda Grinberg Fund are supporting all of Project Inform’s programs in AIDS Research, particularly Project Immune Restoration. Simultaneously, thay are making a gift in Linda’s honor.

The Tom Blount/Jim Straley Trust has been created at the San Francisco Foundation through a Charitable Remainder Unitrust set up by National Board Member Tom Blount. Project Inform is the sole beneficiary of this trust, which is in memory of his friend, Jim Straley. This also represents the largest single contribution ever to Project Inform.

Many thanks to Brian Kliment, who is riding for Project Inform in the 3,261 mile Southern Cross Bike Classic. He has raised nearly $5,000 in this effort for PI! The Ron Wilmot Bike Ride, this past July, raised over $30,000 for PI. Our sincerest thanks for both these efforts!

Reaching Out

Fall ‘96 Highlights – Project Inform reached more people this year than ever before through Town Meetings in New Jersey, Cleveland, Harlem, Atlanta, and other cities. At the National AIDS Treatment Advocates Forum, the National Minority AIDS Council’s Skills Building Conference and the Stadtlanders Wellness Pavilion at the NAMES Project Quilt Display in Washington, DC, we reached thousands of new people living with HIV, their care-partners, friends and the people who serve them. Our large mailing of information in Spanish, and our presence at the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum have helped PI better reach the African American and Latino(a) communities

What’s up in ‘97

As the year closes, the Outreach and Education department is pulling together its 1997 plans. We plan to continue our local and national town meeting programs, as well as expand our Speakers Bureau and our targeted outreach to underserved communities. Some of the ideas for expanding services include:

• HIV Library Project – A pilot project to provide PI publications and Fact Sheets to treatment libraries at AIDS service organizations around the country.
• National Town Meetings – Cities planned for Town Meetings early next year include Boston, Chicago, Washington, DC, Atlanta and Little Rock.
• Internships – Training for case managers, volunteer peer educators and others from around the U.S. includes an internship and mentoring project here in San Francisco. Two staff members from the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation in New Brunswick, NJ, completed our Hotline Training this past fall and can now better provide HIV treatment education in their area. It is our goal in 1997 to extend this kind of training to many more people and organizations.
• Trainings on the Road – In coordination with our National Town Meetings, these give intensive training for case managers and peer educators who serve people of color, women and youth.
• Esperanza para todos – Continues to spread PI’s message of hope and empowerment to Spanish-speaking people by translating PI materials and by collaborating with the Latino Commission on AIDS and the National Minority AIDS Council to distribute those materials.
• To find out about bringing a Town Meeting to your area or about training or internships for employees or volunteers, please call Marvin Carter at 415-558-8669.

Turning Ideas into Action

As the year closes, Project Inform’s Information and Advocacy team hosted the 6th meeting of Immune Restoration Think Tank: The Dobson Project, in Atlanta, GA. Representing a unique activist initiative focusing research attention on advanced-stage HIV-disease, the Think Tank in Atlanta was the most inspired and productive of all the meetings thus far. New antivirals have paved a path of optimism and a belief that many immune-based approaches which researchers once felt were too risky in light of continued HIV infection, are now feasible and rapidly moving forward. Many thanks and kudos to the AIDS treatment activists of Atlanta, who helped sponsor and underwrite the meeting. Accolades also to ACT UP/Golden Gate for their support of the advocacy efforts of Project Immune Restoration. And special thanks to PI volunteer Ray Gin for his continued work on this important project! Volunteers play a key role in nearly every program at Project Inform—we couldn’t do what we do without their help!

The advocacy team has been working to identify funding to cover viral load testing. The goal is to provide access to viral load tests for the under-insured and uninsured, who have no other means to pay for it. Recent approval of the new viral load test promises to revolutionize monitoring and care for HIV-disease, providing a sensitive tool to help patients and their providers evaluate the impact of antiviral therapy on HIV and to individualize treatment strategies. The viral load test, used with CD4+ monitoring, as well as monitoring of other immune parameters, provides key information to help people decide when to start therapy, when to switch therapy and when to stop therapy.

Two new drugs are likely to be recommended for FDA approval over the next 6 to 8 months. One is delavirdine, a new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, which acts on the virus similarly to nevirapine. The other is nelfinavir, the fourth protease inhibitor, which will add another option to those in need. Also, the maker of a another viral load test, Chiron Corporation, has approached the FDA for licensing of their version. Hearings on the availability of thalidomide, a controversial therapy which has shown promise in treating HIV-related weight loss, is on the horizon. Project Inform is involved in all of these activities to insure continued, broader access to promising new therapies and technologies.

Voices of Change

Never underestimate the power of your own voice. TAN members across the country have provided elected officials with input that has changed the course of decision making, increased AIDS funding and protected the rights of HIV positive people. Through voter registration drives, education efforts, letters, phone calls or visits to elected officials, you can make a difference for people living with HIV/AIDS. Staff at PI will help you make these communications effective. If you can help, call the Project Inform National HIV/AIDS Hotline and ask for a TAN packet.

From the Information Department

As we turn the corner into 1997, Project Inform is getting a face lift. FCB Health Care has donated their graphic talents. They have redesigned the PI logo and are helping with a new style for our publications. In addition to getting a new look for ‘97, there are also some new faces around the PI information department. PI welcomes, Reena Lawande, an intern, who will be working with the information and advocacy department over the next year. Additionally, PI is compiling the results from the reader survey which accompanied the PI Perspective earlier this year. Many thanks to all of you who took the time to respond to the survey! Your suggestions and comments are already helping shape PI’s information priorities for 1997.

PI on the Web

Now people all over the world can find PI’s information via our website, named by Internet magazine as one of the top new websites of 1995. One of our goals for 1997 is to make copies of key presentations, including Town Meetings, available through the net. Also, if you use the Internet routinely, you can help PI save money by downloading the PI Perspective and other information through our on-line services. Please write, call or email Karen Meng at PI and let her know that you can get the journal through the Internet and you would like us to discontinue mailings. Thanks!

In Memory of Friends and Supporters

Donations have been recently made to Project Inform in memory of:

Peter Adair Albert Terry Allen John I. Baldor James V. Ball Eric Bernard Bradley Blanchard Thom Bollenger James M. Bordelon Gregory Braswell Richard Bullock J. W. Canty Larry Carimi Marvin Carson Gerard Chevalaz Sopmg Huat Chua Michael Clementz Skipper Coleman

Wayne Coleman Mark Davalos Milton Farquhar Pete Fites Michael Freiberg Bryant Gardner Carlos Gomez Markace Harting Brett Heller William Jarman Danny Jenkins Wayne E. Jensen Stephen E. Jones Cynthia L. Kennedy Carl W. Kierstead Russell Lerner Wes Mc Larin Howard Mark Geoffrey Wilcox Michels

Byron D. Nailing Douglas Nick Russell A. Radley Steve Ramero Scott Riklin Robert I. Ross Frank Sabatino Larry Shaw Pamela Shaw Jimmy Sherman Joel Speakman Miguel A. Valle Irwin Vogel Timothy Ryan Walsh Ronald Yaghjian Marcel G. Zaorski Denver R. Zogg, Jr. Byran Zoller

Estate Planning

One major way to support Project Inform is through a planned gift—through your will or estate, a lifetime special gift of appreciated stock or property, or through a trust gift. If you would like to learn more about these opportunities, please call Director of Development Tom Teasley at: 415-558-8669.

Project Inform is grateful for recent donations from these estates:

Bernard E. Williams Trust
The Estate of Jerry P. Morton
The Estate of Thomas Butler Eastland, III
The Estate of Richard Mah
The Estate of Stephen R. Fenwick
The Estate of Ralph S. Long
The Estate of Brian E. Bounous