Dear Friends,
Thanks for caring so deeply, and for taking a minute to read these quick items below. We appreciate your seeking out ways to prevent HIV and to support people with HIV to live well. Because of you, we are an awesome community of people who care. You surround people with love and support, and that makes a great difference – just ask Sherri! Thank you for what you make possible.
Scott Blades
Executive Director
Quick Links to This Month’s Articles
- Highlighting A TIHAN Volunteer – Jenny
- It Will Soon Be That Time of Year! We’re Planning Now
- We Appreciate Our Partnership with the UA Petersen HIV Clinics
- Sherri Tells Us About Her Experiences of Living with HIV
- Want to Get Involved and Make a Difference?
- Join Us to Help with Our November Newsletter Folding
- Please Vote – Your Voice Matters!
- Thanks for Your Ongoing Donations of Paper Products for CarePartners
- Turnabout for TIHAN
- Your Generosity Helped Us Meet the Challenge for Food Support – Keep It Coming!
- HIV in the News – Top 5 stories about progress towards an HIV cure and vaccine – from AIDS 2020
- TIHAN Office Closed to Honor our Veterans on November 11
Highlighting A TIHAN Volunteer – Jenny
If you’ve been around TIHAN for any period of time, you probably know Jenny, because she helps out in so many ways with TIHAN. Here’s a bit more about Jenny that you might not know.
She was born and raised in Loveland, Colorado, which was a small conservative town, a farming community back then. Jenny was the middle child of 13 kids of her parents, both immigrants from Mexico. Her family and four other Hispanic families were the only non-white people in town. “We faced discrimination even in that little town,” she recalls. Being raised in that environment played a tremendous role in Jenny’s development, and her commitment to volunteering. “I am a recipient of the kindness of strangers,” Jenny states.
“We were a large family, and my dad was a farm worker and later a construction worker. Some years, we had a wonderful Christmas, but other years were lean. I remember one year some people came to the door and dropped off food and gifts. I asked my mother – ‘We don’t even know these people. Why are they doing this?’ She told me, ‘They are sharing with us to make this a special Christmas for our family.’ I will always remember that.
The lesson was that of course it’s important to give when you can, and it’s also important to allow yourself to be a recipient of people’s generosity when you need it. My mother instilled in me the importance of giving back, and it has led to my commitment to volunteering.”
For Jenny, it’s not only that she needs and wants to give back, but it also feels good. “The person giving and the person receiving both benefit,” she relates.
While she was working as a secretary at IBM in the 1970s, Jenny met Mike, an IBM engineer, and they fell in love, marrying in 1978. They moved to Tucson for the opening of Tucson’s IBM plant, and Jenny’s job changed to recruiting technicians. In Tucson, they raised two children, both of whom now live in Chicago. Jenny proudly shares that they have two wonderful grandchildren.
Although her family was Roman Catholic, Jenny changed her affiliation to the United Methodist Church. She and Mike have been part of three United Methodist churches in Tucson, and have been part of St. Paul’s for 12 years. After they retired from IBM, Jenny jumped into volunteering. She remembers, “I thought that now this is the perfect time to do all the things on my bucket list, including volunteering.”
It was in a United Methodist church that Jenny first heard about TIHAN. She was attending Oasis UMC (which has since closed) and someone stood up and said that TIHAN needed volunteers for their Poz Café lunch program. “After the service,” she recalls, “I got the info and signed up to help.” In November 2007, Jenny attended TIHAN’s Volunteer Orientation, and she’s been super-active with us ever since.
“I knew then about AIDS, but I hadn’t been directly impacted,” Jenny states. “I just thought, ‘The need is there, why not help?’ When I learned more about the stigma that people with HIV experience, that strengthened my desire to volunteer. People weren’t treated fairly; they were being judged by people who didn’t even know them.”
Over the past 13 years of volunteering with TIHAN, Jenny has helped in many areas: CareTeam member, mobile link specialist, Poz Café helper, faith community liaison, plus assisting with holiday programs, quarterly mailings, Treasures for TIHAN, and more. “I really like meeting new people who want to help –it motivates and inspires me,” she says. For Jenny, the best part of volunteering is working with the CarePartners living with HIV. “Each CarePartner has a story to tell. I have learned more about people and how HIV has impacted them. CarePartner connections, as well as connecting with other volunteers, is so important to me.” As a result of those connections, Jenny has become a strong advocate for people living with HIV, and is well loved among our CarePartners.
She says she’s learned a lot through volunteering with TIHAN: “I welcome diversity, as it helps us expand our horizons about people from different backgrounds,” Jenny relates. “It makes things better when we hear perspectives from different people. I’ve learned the impact of caring for others, and the value of not judging or labeling people, but treating them first as individuals, so they don’t become the label that someone put on them.”
Jenny also devotes a great deal of time volunteering with her church: helping in the office with bulletins, participating in a women’s circle and Bible study group, photographing church events, and serving on the Outreach, Welcome, and Senior Laycare Committees. During this COVID pandemic, Jenny has stayed busy helping people who are isolated. “I’ve been calling people to check in on them and doing their shopping,” she shares. “I am concerned about people living alone, because social isolation can have a severe impact on health.” Plus, she reminds us, it’s helped her too: “It’s helped me stay sane and connected to people.”
Jenny speaks highly of TIHAN’s staff members: “They are four very committed, organized, and inclusive people. Very friendly and providing good direction and support.”
“TIHAN is a team,” she says. “We are all working together to help others and make a positive difference in their lives. TIHAN is a good nonprofit organization that really does make a big difference in people’s lives.”
It Will Soon Be That Time of Year! We’re Planning Now
Now is the time that we start gearing up for the winter holiday programs to support people living with HIV. We know that CarePartners and their families really look forward to the events that we traditionally co-host with SAAF (Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation): Family Day, a festive event for adults living with HIV and their minor children who live with them, and the special December Poz Café Dinner Party and Dance for all our adults living with HIV.
This year, we will not be able to hold in-person gatherings, or host gatherings for families with Santa or dinner parties with dance floors. But with your help, we can still make the holidays festive and special. Keep in mind that the coronavirus pandemic has had a major effect on people seeking assistance: our recent service usage has been 55% higher than last year on average, with some months topping 70 and 80% increases when looking at CarePackages distributed and Poz Café meals served. So this year, we’ll need your support more than ever to effectively provide holiday support to everyone in need! We’re hoping you can help by donating holiday gifts ($25 range) and gift cards ($15-$25 range) to brighten the holidays for people living with HIV.
Family Day and the holiday Poz Café will both happen via drive-through pick-up systems or deliveries made to CarePartners’ homes. For both events, CarePartners and their families will still enjoy the same goodies that they would in person: holiday gifts, CarePackages filled with essential toiletry and cleaning supplies, useful gift cards, and a holiday meal. Providing all of these holiday items is where we need your support.
We are asking for donations of gifts for adults with HIV (gifts with a value of $15-$25), and $25 gift cards to stores like Target, Walmart, and Fry’s. Gifts should be new and unused, and should be delivered to us unwrapped.
For a list of gift suggestions, please click on this link.
The holidays can be the toughest time of year for many. The challenges can be even more acute for people who have been living with HIV for many years and are reminded of the many people they have lost in their lives due to the disease. This year, with loneliness and depression greatly increased already due to the coronavirus pandemic, we need even more light and support in order to lift up spirits of the people we serve. You can be a part of that!
Gift and gift card donations can be brought to the TIHAN office on Monday – Friday, between 8:30am-4:30pm. Thank you for helping us to boost spirits at the end of a pretty rough year! Please plan to bring all donations in by Wednesday, November 25.
We Appreciate Our Partnership with the UA Petersen HIV Clinics
Recently, TIHAN has been receiving many more referrals from our partners at the University of Arizona’s Petersen HIV Clinics. Their team (made up of medical providers, medical and nonmedical case managers, clinical coordinators, clinical pharmacists, student interns, a data manager, early intervention specialists, program managers/clinical directors, and coming soon a PEP/PrEP coordinator) is key to our ability to provide support services to more people. We appreciate our partnership with the Petersen HIV Clinics and referrals from their staff, because each person they refer to TIHAN receives a much wider range of support services.
The Petersen HIV Clinics, operated by the UA Division of Infectious Diseases which is part of the UA College of Medicine, provide treatment and prevention services for over 1,000 HIV-positive patients at two clinical locations. “Using a multi-disciplinary approach,” they “provide compassionate, comprehensive high-quality medical care, access to medications and support services, regardless of someone’s ability to pay.” To learn more about the Petersen HIV Clinics, please call (520) 626-8598 or visit https://hiv.medicine.arizona.edu/.
Sherri Tells Us About Her Experiences of Living with HIV
When Sherri tested positive for HIV in February 2016, she wasn’t worried about herself. She was worried that she might have put her family and friends at risk. She knows now that HIV can’t be casually transmitted, but when she received that positive test result, all she could think about was whether she had put others at risk.
She had gone in for an HIV test, then went to Texas to visit her ailing mother when she got a phone call telling her that she tested positive for HIV. “I was devastated,” she says. “It was not a shock, but it was a shock. One of the hardest things in the world to hear, that you put yourself and so many other people at risk for what in my mind was a killer.”
Sherri shares that it took her some time to come to terms with HIV. “I didn’t care about me, but I was concerned about others I put at risk,” she recalls. “Have I put my daughter at risk? My mother? My partner?” She immediately called people and told them about her test results.
“Even after learning more about HIV and how it is and is not transmitted, even after being on antiviral medication and getting to the undetectable level and finding out that it’s almost impossible for me to transmit HIV to anyone, it’s still hard to believe sometimes,” she says. “I just worry about it. I would be devastated if I hurt anyone.”
Sherri went to the Petersen HIV clinic at Banner/UMC, and was told about SAAF, she says, and then after about six months, SAAF told her about TIHAN. “Before I found out about TIHAN, I didn’t realize that so much help and kindness and generosity existed in this town. I really didn’t realize that. When I found TIHAN, it was the greatest hope I had found in years.”
Sherri’s past was difficult. She had been on the streets for years, “selling my body” as she refers to that time. She was addicted to crack cocaine. Her recovery started with 12-step meetings: Cocaine Anonymous (CA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Still, she was on and off, high then sober for a while, then high, then sober. “Those meetings didn’t work too well for me because I kept hearing stories about how people did drugs and what it did to them, which is important, but it wasn’t helpful because it made me want to use” she relates. “But I got to a point of wanting to hear, ‘This is how you don’t do drugs and this how you live without them.’ Someone told me at one point that if you used yesterday and you didn’t use drugs today, then today you are a day old. And two years later, you are sober and two years old. And it takes time to mature, and you have to own that. It helped me better understand my addiction.”
After being sober for a few years, Sherri says she “fell.” She started using again and went to jail for prostitution. After serving her time, she went to a halfway house, and was working and all was going well—for three months. “Then I left and just went AWOL for a while. Then I talked to my daughter, it was on Mother’s Day. My daughter is the reason I turned myself back in after three months of being AWOL. I told my family and doctor and the judge ‘I want to clean up my mess. If I continue to be out there on the streets, I’m going to get very hurt or die.’ It was time for me to make my decision about what to do with my life that day.”
Sherri hasn’t used drugs since that day 10 years ago. But she considers herself sober for 7.5 years, because 2.5 years into her sobriety, she bought drugs and spent hours considering it, but not taking the drugs. “I kept calling people to talk to, but no one was available. Until about 10 hours later. But finally someone called me back and they did what I needed them to do—they talked me out of using it!”
Sherri has a small circle of friends. She also has a sister out of state, and two brothers—one who disowned her when she told him about having HIV, and one who is mostly concerned about making money. She’s especially proud of her beautiful 24-year old daughter with a job in healthcare. Their frayed relationship is being restored, one step at a time. “Because of my drug habit and being on the streets, her dad took custody and kept me away from her, which I understand. He’s taken good care of her, and I appreciate that. We talk every now and then, and meet sometimes, but that stopped due to COVID.”
Sherri lives in a rough neighborhood of Tucson. “There are drug dealers living all around me,” she shares. “I have to constantly pick up needles and drug paraphernalia from my apartment complex. I’m known for being the big mouth who yells at people who are throwing their needles on the ground. Pick that up!” It’s not the ideal location for someone in recovery, but moving to a new apartment is a challenge for several reasons. Sherri’s disability income is $760/month, so her options are limited, and low-income housing is most available in some tough areas of town.
A felony conviction in her background (30 years ago) also limits her options. “Plus, even though it’s a drug-infested neighborhood, it’s convenient for me. Since I walk or take the bus, so much is close to me. I have a grocery store close by and a laundromat. Plus, I live close to a library. I love to read. I read a lot—books, paperbacks, magazines. Newspapers from all over. I want to learn something new every day of my life. I can easily walk there. This library is a haven for me.”
During this COVID-19 pandemic, life has changed a lot for Sherri. That library is temporarily closed. She’s facing other health issues, including going through chemo and having surgery to amputate her toe.
“Everything I would normally do to help myself, I couldn’t. Like escaping to the library to read. There’s been a lot of downtime when I couldn’t do the extra work I usually do to supplement my income—housecleaning, sweeping parking lots, taking care of neighbors’ kids. So I’ve been down for about 6 months.” During this time, support from TIHAN became even more important to her.
“I never would have survived,” she states. “Between the pandemic, surgery, and chemo, it was overwhelming. The CarePackages, the hygiene items, the meals you provide, these gift cards to purchase food recently. And, you know, that laundry detergent is so important—it’s one of the hardest things for me to get. I would not have been able to survive without those things in the last six months.
“What I get from you guys, it changed everything. You guys changed everything about how I feel about myself. I still have a disease, even though it is undetectable, it’s still tough, and you guys make me feel welcome. Thanks is a small word, but when I say thank you, it is a whole lot bigger.”
Sherri marvels over how modern medicine has changed the world of HIV. “Medical miracles have saved so many of us from death,” she says. “I’m so grateful for the medicine. And even more grateful for the people that have connected me with others. It amazes me that TIHAN has all these volunteers. Everyone is doing it because they care, not because they have to get paid. It makes my heart big to know that people care that much.”
Sherri has a message for TIHAN’s donors and volunteers. “If I found a penny in your parking lot, I would make it a donation to you. God willing and the creek don’t rise, our world Is going to come together and it’s going to be easier for all of us. But until then, every penny and every minute donated will make it better. Even the smallest gift someone gives of time or money adds up, and it makes possible the good you have done for me. Thank you.”
When we first asked Sherri about sharing a bit of her story, she said no, but she quickly changed her mind. “You know what? I own my life,” she relates. “I know how and why my life is this way and if I can make someone else understand that you don’t have to make the same mistakes, I want to do that.”
Someday, you might encounter Sherri on the bus, or in the store, or at the doctor, or at TIHAN. If you do, she’s likely to try to connect with you in a simple way. “I talk to everyone,” she says, laughing. “I try to make a point of staring conversations. ‘Hello!’ ‘I like your shoes.’ ‘Nice dress.’ I make comments to people to show kindness. If we are not connecting with each other, how are we going to survive?”
Want to Get Involved and Make a Difference?
Our monthly Volunteer Orientations are being held virtually via Zoom. We have a wide range of volunteer opportunities including: administrative support, outreach and education, fundraising, and care and support roles working directly with people living with HIV. Contact our us for more information about our current volunteer opportunities, and we’ll get the process started for you. When the time comes, you’ll be ready to go and start making a difference! Maggie can be reached at (520) 299-6647 ext 204 or VolunteerCoordinator@tihan.org.
Here are some volunteer positions we need now:
- Link Specialist Volunteers (especially Spanish-speaking)
- Operations Assistants (Front Desk Receptionist)
- CarePartner Program Support Volunteers
- Marketing Committee Member
- Program Committee Member
We hope to find caring and compassionate people with the talents and skills to perform these important roles. Our next Volunteer Orientation is Friday, October 23rd, so contact TIHAN today to learn more and get involved.
Join Us to Help with Our November Newsletter Folding
Our November newsletter assembly takes place remotely on November 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th from the comfort of your home.
Newsletters for folding will be available for pick up at the TIHAN office on Monday afternoon, November 2nd.
Please contact Maggie McCann, Operations Manager, at OperationsManager@tihan.org or 520-299-6647 ext 204, if you are interested in joining this remote version of our traditional folding party.
Please Vote – Your Voice Matters!
If you are a US citizen living in Arizona and need to register to vote, need to change your address on your voter registration, or want to sign up to vote by mail (by being on the Permanent Early Voting List or PEVL), you can do it online via this website from the state of Arizona (in either English and Spanish).
You can also check your current voter registration info and your polling place too. If you want to be one of the 80% of Arizona voters who are signed up for early voting by mail (PEVL), you will receive your ballot in the mail, and then you send it back in a prepaid envelope. No need to travel to your polling place on Election Day.
The deadline to register has been extended to October 23!
https://servicearizona.com/VoterRegistration
Thanks for Your Ongoing Donations of Paper Products for CarePartners
On average, we’re giving out over 200 rolls of paper towels and 800 rolls of toilet tissue each month this year in CarePackages for our CarePartners living with HIV. With the increased demand and the scarcity of paper goods on the shelves at stores, we continue to welcome donations of both of these items.
Can you help ensure we can provide these top-priority items in each CarePackage we hand out? Whether it’s one roll or a multi-pack of 50, everything is appreciated. For toilet tissue, we do request that it be two-ply.
Donations can be dropped off at the TIHAN office Monday-Friday between 8:30am-4:30pm.
Turnabout for TIHAN
Our annual benefit show to support programs and services for people with HIV is transforming into a virtual party this year! Join us for fantastic performances of drag, dance, burlesque, and inspiration.
Always one of the wildest nights of the year, Turnabout is a fabulous evening of glitz and glamour. Last year’s 23rd annual event had a great crowd of 400 people and raised a record $32,000.
This year’s event will take place online – a virtual event on Sunday, November 1st from 6:00-7:00pm, and you will have a front-row seat—right in front of your computer or phone! It’s free to watch. (We’ll encourage donations in support of your favorite performers.)
All proceeds support the programs and services of TIHAN. To be sure you receive the link to watch the show, watch our Facebook page or email Scott@tihan.org
Your Generosity Helped Us Meet the Challenge for Food Support – Keep It Coming!
Thanks to all who donated for food support for people living with HIV, we met the challenge to match the $20,000 grant given to us by the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona! If you haven’t already donated to this effort, there’s still time.
Also we have another campaign to help us make up for lost income due to our cancelled Treasures for TIHAN benefit: https://tihan.ejoinme.org/treasures2020
HIV in the News – Top 5 stories about progress towards an HIV cure and vaccine – from AIDS 2020
The recent 23rd International AIDS Society conference, also known as AIDS 2020, presented the latest research towards the development of an HIV cure and vaccine. Check out these five stories with promising news:
https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2020/top-5-hiv-cure-and-vaccine-stories-aids-2020
TIHAN Office Closed to Honor our Veterans on November 11
Please note that the TIHAN office will be closed on Wednesday, November 11th, 2020 in observance of Veterans Day. We thank our veterans for your service to our country.
