Tim Egan, 42, is currently training with the TEAM TO END AIDS (T2) for the Chicago Triathlon and the Steelhead 70.3 Ironman race.
It will be his third straight year participating in races to raise money and awareness for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Not bad for someone who has never considered himself an athlete.
“My main motivation is to raise as much money as I possibly...
Read more...
Keri Rainsberger is director of data services at AFC. AFC Photos-Ed Negron
By Eva Westley
It’s not the most glamorous work: keeping track of visits to case managers, trips to the hospital, viral loads and housing applications for the thousands of people with HIV in Chicago.
But with government officials, funders, researchers and the members...
Read more...
Youth gather for The Night Ministry's outreach services in Boystown. AFC Photos-Ed Negron
On a brisk early April night in Boystown, with a nearly full moon tilted in the sky, a group of teens — many of them homeless — waited in a parking lot on the corner of Belmont and Halsted.
Within minutes, two vans belonging to The Night Ministry pulled up to the...
Read more...
For the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV, the Affordable Care Act will be utterly life-changing. For some, it will be life-saving.
Just ask Will Wilson, 58, who was diagnosed with "full-blown AIDS" in 2002.
"It will basically mean freedom," said Wilson, a Chicago resident and an advocate for the Illinois Alliance for Sound AIDS Policy.
For the first time,...
Read more...
High-profile fundraiser to combat HIV/AIDS unveils new location, website, community partners, logo; 85-year-old woman to honor son with 20th consecutive stride at AIDS Run & Walk Chicago
CHICAGO – A model of commitment and determination, Mae Smith has not missed a single AIDS Run & Walk Chicago since her son, Ron, died of AIDS 20 years ago in 1993....
Read more...
David Ernesto Munar, president/CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, speaks at the 2012 Dinner with Tony Kushner. AFC Photos-Ed Negron
Below are David Ernesto Munar's remarks from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's 2012 Dinner with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, who wrote Angels in America. The dinner was held on March 27, 2012, at the Hilton Chicago, and raised...
Read more...
Donté Smith is a member of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago Americorps team.
At times, hip-hop lovers who also believe in social justice can grow discouraged by the homophobia and misogyny so rampant in today’s brand of beats and rhymes.
But tomorrow night, there will be a refreshing showcase of hip-hop talent performing for a most worthy cause: to enhance the...
Read more...
Dr. Lisa Henry-Reid poses with her family. From left to right, daughter Lorelle, son Taylor, Dr. Henry-Reid and her husband Samuel.
Dr. Lisa Henry-Reid remembers when AIDS became personal for her.
It was 1996. One of her first AIDS patients, a young man she had grown...
Read more...
AFC is deeply concerned that and the General Assembly are considering cutting HIV programs by $4 million or 14%, which will actually lower state funding for HIV prevention, housing, corrections, minority health, perinatal HIV, and harm reduction programs by 50%.
Based on public health data these cuts could result in 108 additional people becoming infected with HIV, resulting in over $40...
Read more...
Mae Smith sits with her two of her daughters in her homey Glendale Heights kitchen. A coffeepot gurgles from the counter. Her youngest granddaughter plays quietly in the adjacent living room.
If you saw Mae Smith on the street, you might not immediately suspect she’s a passionate and determined HIV/AIDS advocate...
Read more...
