I will ride the annual Braking The Cycle AIDS ride from September 28-30, 2007 for the 4th year in a row benefiting "The Center" in New York City.
(50% of all proceeds will benefit "The Center")
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center ("The Center") (www.GayCenter.org) is acting as the main fundraising conduit for CPR to AAA $100,000 Challenge through my, Chip Arndt's, fundraising page at http://www.brakingthecycle.org/?CID=11 (I am rider # 6 -- the actual online donation link will be active in two weeks, so for now please print out form, write down my name and rider ID # and send donation in the mail to The Center). Once the fundraising drive ends December 1, The Center will allocate the funds raised, in accordance with pre-defined percentages to all 9 benefiting not-for-profit organizations.
The Center's Braking The Cycle is September 28-30 (www.BrakingTheCycle.org) and is their annual AIDS Fundraising Bike Ride. I will be participating for the 4th year to benefit targeted HIV/AIDS services at The Center. The Center is an organization that is near and dear to me, as I lived in New York City for 2 years and saw many people benefit from their wonderful work.
The Center was founded in December 1983 and the 2007 Braking The Cycle Ride will celebrate its 5th year.
The Center has been at the forefront of providing services in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Funds raised through Braking The Cycle and CPR to AAA are targeted to support these services:
- The Center's Mental Health and Social Services Department, its Youth Program and our related prevention and health policy programs serve more than 3,000 LGBT New Yorkers annually.
- 1,200 LGBT adults are annually assisted on-site, 33% of whom are people living with HIV or AIDS. An additional 1000 people are provided services off-site, for a total of 7,500 contacts per year.
- More than 1,000 teens come to the Center annually for services and leadership training in HIV prevention.
- Numerous HIV/AIDS support and advocacy groups meet regularly at the Center.
Information from The Center:
The Center itself produces many health-related, civic, and cultural programs. In the next several pages (please click on links) you will read in detail about these programs; each was conceived to meet a need that was not already being met elsewhere. Each Center program, in some way, seeks to allow us to become more fully aware of ourselves.
Programs produced by the Center include Youth Enrichment Services (YES), an activities-based program for LGBT youth; Center Orientation, produced in-house and in all the boroughs of New York City; Center Kids, the Center's family project; the Pat Parker/Vito Russo Center Library, New York City's largest LGBT lending library; the National Museum and the National Archive of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender History; and Promote the Vote, one of the largest LGBT voter registration and mobilization projects in the United States, created in 1992.
In addition, one of the Center's prime functions is to provide affordable meeting space for LGBT organizations, many of which would otherwise have no place to go. The lack of affordable, safe space in this city has pushed several organizations to the brink of extinction. Stepping forward more than once, the Center has kept doors open and ensured the delivery of much needed services and programs. In 1985, the Center became temporary home to the Harvey Milk High School, a program of the Hetrick-Martin Institute. The Lesbian Switchboard became a permanent tenant after it was evicted from its former home, and Dignity, a Catholic gay and lesbian religious organization, sought refuge when it was expelled from Catholic churches.
Please click on the links below for more information on The Center:
Mission Statement (http://www.gaycenter.org/about/)
Community of Inclusion: Statement of Principle (http://www.gaycenter.org/about/community)
The Center Story (http://www.gaycenter.org/about/centerstory)
If you have any more questions about The Center please feel to contact its Executive Director, Richard Burns, who celebrated his 20th as Executive Director year with the center at Richard@gaycenter.org or on 212.620.7310.
I will walk in Washington, DC's annual AIDS Walk on October 6th benefiting the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. for the 1st time.
(15% of all proceeds will benefit The Whitman-Walker Clinic)
Whitman-Walker Clinic (www.wwc.org) is a non-profit community-based health organization serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. Established by and for the gay and lesbian community, our Clinic is comprised of diverse volunteers and staff who provide or facilitate the delivery of high quality, comprehensive, accessible health care and community services. Whitman-Walker Clinic is especially committed to ending the suffering of all those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
In November 1973, the Gay Men's VD Clinic, part of the Washington Free Clinic, began operating in the basement of the Georgetown Lutheran Church. This was the birth of what was to become Whitman-Walker Clinic.
For more than three decades, the Clinic has been renowned – locally, nationally and internationally – for the high-quality, culturally sensitive care it provides. This work remains critical in an area with the highest HIV infection rate in the country.
For a complete history of The Whitman-Walker Clinic please go to http://wwc.org/about_wwc/history.html.
For complete information of the many wonderful services provided by the clinic please go to http://wwc.org/about_wwc/staff_directory.html.