Hello! We hope you are well, and taking care of yourself and your loved ones. We’re excited to share a few messages with you.
First, we’d like to share a note of appreciation from a CarePartner living with HIV:
Hello Tihan,
I will be there 5/20 to pick up the care package that is so so essential for my needs.
I would also like to take this opportunity to give a much deserved THANK YOU to all of you who have provided me the opportunity to receive care packages and grocery assistance through these most difficult times. I am most appreciative of all your efforts and to those of [you] who have offered your very generous donations, I am so very grateful. Your support to me and our community is greatly appreciated. My life has been blessed by you in many ways.
Thank you again,
– – – – – –
Scott Blades
Executive Director
Quick Links to This Month’s Articles
- Arizona Tax Credit Still Available If You Haven’t Yet Filed Your 2020 Tax Return
- Pop-Up Vaccination Site – TIHAN and Pima County Health Dept Team Up for Free, Walk-Up COVID-19 Vaccines – Open to Everyone Ages 18 and Over
- Treasures for TIHAN – A Virtual Celebration and Fundraising Event – Save the Date: Saturday, August 7!
- Welcome Two New TIHAN Staff Members!
- Items Needed for our CarePackages
- HIV in the News During COVID: “Strides Against HIV/AIDS Falter, Especially in the South, as Nation Battles COVID-19”
- Have You Been Vaccinated? We’d Like to Know
- Volunteer Opportunities Help You Make a Difference!
- Wondering What Is Needed Right Now?
Arizona Tax Credit Still Available If You Haven’t Yet Filed Your 2020 Tax Return
The Arizona State Tax Credit program allows you to make a donation to TIHAN and receive a dollar-for-dollar credit against your Arizona state taxes. You can make a donation to TIHAN of any amount (up to $400 if filing singly or $800 if married filing jointly on your Arizona state tax return). When you file your Arizona taxes, you can claim on AZ Form 321 a dollar-for-dollar Arizona Charitable Tax Credit (our QCO code is 20359).
This tax credit is in addition to Arizona’s schools and foster care tax credits, and you do NOT have to itemize on your tax return. Want to claim the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit? The tax filing deadline is extended to May 17, 2021, so if you haven’t filed yet, you can still donate and claim your tax credit on your 2020 tax return.
Donate online now at www.tihan.org
Pop-Up Vaccination Site – TIHAN and Pima County Health Dept Team Up for Free, Walk-Up COVID-19 Vaccines – Open to Everyone Ages 18 and Over
We’re excited to partner with the Pima County Health Department to offer COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday, May 20 at Cornerstone Fellowship (2902 N Geronimo Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705).
We have two timeslots:
12:00noon – 1:30pm Only for CarePartners and their family/friends (ages 18+)
1:30pm – 3:00pm For TIHAN volunteers, neighbors, general public (anyone ages 18+)
The health department staff will be providing the Moderna vaccine, free of charge, with no pre-registration required. All are welcome, regardless of status. Feel free to invite others to join. The second dose will be provided four weeks later, on June 17, same time and place.
Treasures for TIHAN – A Virtual Celebration and Fundraising Event – Save the Date: Saturday, August 7!
We’re excited to announce that Treasures for TIHAN, our biggest annual fundraising event, is scheduled for Saturday, August 7, 2021.
It will be a one-hour virtual celebration of impact, packed with entertainment, fun, and a live and silent auction, all under the theme “Rainbows in the Desert!” Look for more details coming soon.
We have event sponsorship opportunities (ranging from $500 to $15,000), and we are now accepting donations of auction items – this year, we are seeking donations of items for us to auction off including experiences, trips, tickets, hotel stays, gift certificates, sweets, baskets, services, ceramics, jewelry, collectibles, and antiques.
If you’d like to sponsor our event and/or donate items for our auction, please contact Scott Blades at scott@tihan.org or (520) 299-6647 ext 202.
Stay tuned as we release more exciting details!
Welcome Two New TIHAN Staff Members!
After being short-staffed (with just two of us for a while), we are happy to introduce two new members of our team:
Ramses Jacobo Gaona is our new Program Coordinator. He has worked in a variety of roles throughout his life: education, management, training, and working with people with disabilities; all of them having one piece in common: helping others. Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community and Latinx community has shown Ramses how important it is to support each other.
Our new Operations Manager is Dawn Lee. She comes from Dallas, Texas, where she honed her skills in office management (over 25 years) in both non-profit organizations and for-profit businesses. Her non-profit experience includes managing for an international humanitarian aid organization, as well as founding and pastoring a predominantly LGBTQ+ non-denominational community church in Dallas.
For more info on our staff and their backgrounds and roles, click here (https://tihan.org/about-tihan/#staff)
Items Needed for our CarePackages
Requests for CarePackages have skyrocketed over the past year, and we’re grateful for your support to allow us to respond. Two items we especially need right now: liquid dishwashing soap (smaller size bottles, please) and disposable razors.
If you’d like to contribute these items for people living with HIV, we’d love it. You can order them online and have them shipped to the TIHAN office, or you can purchase and drop them off at TIHAN (2660 N 1st Avenue).
Please bring your donated items to the TIHAN office and call us when you are outside placing the items on the donation table outside our front door.
We are open Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm (except we are closed for Memorial Day on Monday, May 31).
HIV in the News During COVID: “Strides Against HIV/AIDS Falter, Especially in the South, as Nation Battles COVID-19”
How has the pandemic impacted HIV over the past year? We know there has been a decrease in HIV screening tests and requests for life-saving PrEP usage (to prevent new HIV infections), and an increase in isolation, depression, and substance use. But there’s much more that is still unclear. POZ magazine’s article shares some challenging news about how this past year has impacted HIV in the US, especially in the South, which has the biggest challenges.
“For the last two decades, HIV/AIDS has been held at bay by potent antiviral drugs, aggressive testing and inventive public education campaigns. But the COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound disruptions in almost every aspect of that battle, grounding outreach teams, sharply curtailing testing and diverting critical staff away from laboratories and medical centers.
The exact impact of one pandemic on the other is still coming into focus, but preliminary evidence is disturbing experts who have celebrated the enormous strides in HIV treatment. While the shift in priorities is nationwide, delays in testing and treatment carry particularly grievous risks in Southern states, now the epicenter of the nation’s HIV crisis.”
For the rest of the story, click here…
“Strides Against HIV/AIDS Falter, Especially in the South, as Nation Battles COVID-19”
Have You Been Vaccinated? We’d Like to Know
As more of us at TIHAN are vaccinated, we’re able to start exploring possibilities for phasing in some in-person events and programs.
We’re not ready yet, but we’re getting closer. But it would be very helpful for us to know how many of our TIHAN volunteers, donors, and CarePartners have been vaccinated, are planning to get vaccinated, or are not planning to get vaccinated.
If you’d like to tell us about your vaccine status, please email scott@tihan.org
Volunteer Opportunities Help You Make a Difference!
Volunteers have a real and caring impact on supporting people living with HIV in Tucson!
We have a Volunteer Orientation via Zoom on Saturday, June 26, 10:00am to 12:30pm. You’ll learn about HIV, hear from some CarePartners living with HIV, and TIHAN’s volunteer needs and onboarding process.
Our volunteer opportunities range from administrative support in the office to care and support roles working directly with people living with HIV. We have both remote volunteer opportunities, as well as limited (safe) in-person options too.
Contact Dawn Lee at (520) 299-6647 ext 204 or VolunteerCoordinator@tihan.org, to learn more and sign up to get involved, or visit TIHAN’s website for more information: https://tihan.org/volunteer/#current-vol-opps
Wondering What Is Needed Right Now?
Here’s one of the important items on TIHAN’s wish list: air purifiers! If you can help, we’d appreciate it!
We need at least three (hopefully four), and two have been ordered for us already. Help us keep our office, staff, and volunteers safe!
Our full Amazon wish list is available by clicking on this link, with lots more suggestions for items you might want to contribute.
