Your Chance To Help

On June 6th, along with thousands of other people nationwide, I'll be participating in an AIDS Walk to raise money for HIV/AIDS services.

My local walk benefits a community-based service organization that's been fighting HIV at the street level for more than twenty years. I know their work well. They offer free mental health care, support groups, substance abuse treatment, case management, and legal services (not for criminal offenses, but things like wills, and for discrimination law). They help low-income people with HIV find housing, and subsidize their rent or move-in expenses if necessary. They have a drop-in center where homeless people with HIV can do their laundry, take a shower, get a hot meal, use the telephone, talk to someone friendly.

They do hardcore prevention work, taking mobile counseling-and-testing vans at night to neighborhoods where I wouldn't walk in broad daylight. They give out condoms and teach people how to sterilize their injection equipment. They help people access medical services. They train people with HIV to be community educators and advocates.

They do good work.

I'd like to invite Respectful of Otters readers to sponsor me on the AIDS Walk. I'm not going to be a pest about this - I'll only make this request once. You can send PayPal donations to respectfulotters@hotmail.com, or you can e-mail me for information about how to send a check. If you give me your legal name and street address, the AIDS service organization will send you a receipt. All donations are tax-deductible under U.S. law; I don't know about other countries. As an extra incentive, for a $40 donation I will research and write a post about the topic of your choice. (You don't get to pick my opinion, just the topic.)

Please consider helping out. Thank you.