by Cotrell Loftin
AIDS Run & Walk Chicago was back on Saturday, Oct. 1, but we’re still feeling the excitement! In the week leading up to the event, we held an Instagram challenge that received many great entries. Congratulations to the daily winners and the grand prize winner @Ricanflava who won a ticket to World of Chocolate! See the winning posts below and stay tuned...
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What do you do when you’re 15 years old and your good friend comes out to you as HIV-positive?
Alfredo Flores (now 21) knows how it feels. After he came out as gay in his teens, Flores joined Mpowerment , an HIV prevention program for young gay and bisexual men. Mpowerment runs programs across Chicago to help people stand up to the stigma around HIV.
“When I first...
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by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL)
Today, on National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we ponder the significance of HIV and AIDS as an American and international reality. 35 years have passed since our country initially confronted the biological challenges of this epidemic. We still grapple — oftentimes clumsily — with stigma and our social response, while contending...
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Events like AIDS Run & Walk Chicago don't come together by themselves; they happen because talented volunteers come together and make it happen! Do you have what it takes to be a volunteer for this year's event on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Soldier Field? Click here to learn more.
Still on the fence? Read seven reasons other volunteers come back year after year to support the HIV...
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By Jennifer Moreno, CADC
To honor National Recovery Month, we asked AFC’s Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor (CADC) to reflect on the difficult road to recovery. Since July 2015, Moreno has conducted health assessments for 42 of AFC’s housing clients who are regular or recovering users of drugs and alcohol, and she has developed treatment plans with 23 clients...
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Chicagoan Lindsay Mitchell recounts her connection to the HIV cause and to AIDS Run & Walk Chicago, which she has participated in for more than a decade. Mitchell also celebrates that which she has gained as a result of her volunteer work at Bonaventure House: a life-long love.
I run in the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago every year in memory of my father-in-law, who died of AIDS-related...
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by Sara Semelka and Pamela Tassin
During the last week of July, Sara Semelka and Pamela Tassin from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Midwest HIV Prevention and Pregnancy Planning Initiative (MHPPPI) and #PrEP4Love projects participated in the 2016 National Reproductive Health Conference , hosted by the National Clinical Training Center for Family Planning. They spent three days...
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by Eryn MacNeil
“I was only 22 when I was diagnosed. I was young and I felt it. But everyone’s just trying to learn how to live, and now I’m just learning how to live a little differently.”
Jessica was diagnosed with HIV at the age of 22 when she visited the doctor to have her lymph nodes examined. What seemed like a mundane check-up quickly turned...
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For Harrison McEldowney, a 35-year veteran of the dance scene, there is no feeling quite like dance. “It gives you an elevated sense of your being,” said McEldowney, his voice increasing in speed and energy as he recalled the sensation. “It’s an incredible feeling — a natural high.”
He has been fueled by that natural high as a dancer in New York,...
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by Jacina Sims
What a weekend! Over the course of four days, I graduated with my Master of Public Health degree, traveled to DC among young leaders in the Black LGBTQ movement, and mourned as I heard about the horrible massacre in Orlando.
As a Master of Public Health practicum intern at AFC, I have witnessed and been a part of many powerful moments. I enjoyed my time working...
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