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Triathlete Looks Back, Races Forward

April 16, 2012

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...
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Confessions of a Self-Proclaimed Data Geek

April 13, 2012

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...
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The Ministry of Being There

April 11, 2012

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...
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Huffington Post: Trapped in a Broken System

April 6, 2012

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,...
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An Evening of Angels, Reflection and Looking Forward

March 30, 2012

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...
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Hip-Hop Cares About HIV. Yes, Really.

March 29, 2012

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...
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A Doctor Finds Calling in Forgotten Youth

March 21, 2012

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...
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At 85, a Mother Walks for Her Son

March 13, 2012

  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...
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An Advocate and his Art

March 8, 2012

Gary Metzner poses on a Puerto Vallarta vacation in February 2011.          (Photos courtesy of Scott Johnson) Like twin currents of the same river, Gary Metzner’s passion for art and his own emerging identity pulled him into the HIV/AIDS cause some 20 years ago. Fresh out of college and grad school, he found work at an...
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Confronting HIV Among Youth

March 8, 2012

It's heartening to see the professional journalists of tomorrow care about rising HIV infections among young people. In this story -- written by Veronica J. Smith of the Medill News Service -- Chicago HIV experts and advocates talk about what's being done to address the alarming rise in HIV infections among young people. The story provides...
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