AIDS Action awards lawmakers

AIDS Action Committee presented its second annual Commitment to Action Awards Nov. 8 at its annual meeting, honoring people and organizations that have distinguished themselves over the past year in working to end the AIDS epidemic. One of the recipients was a group of black state lawmakers who publicly took HIV tests on National HIV Testing Day to raise awareness about the high rate of HIV infections in the black community. Three of those lawmakers, Reps. Gloria Fox and Willie Mae Allen and Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, accepted the award in person at the meeting, which was held at the Boston office of Nixon Peabody LLC. Other lawmakers who tested that day but were not on hand to accept the award were Reps. Byron Rushing, Linda Dorcena Forry and Benjamin Swan.

As the three lawmakers stood at the podium to accept their award, the projector screens flanking the podium showed a publicity photo taken last June on HIV Testing Day. The photo showed the three women, along with Dorcena Forry, sitting around a conference table in the State House holding strips up to their mouths to collect saliva for the test. Fox told the crowd that originally the lawmakers planned to take the test in their own districts, but the timing of the legislative session gave them the chance to make a more powerful statement as a group.

"We were in session that day. So the ladies had an idea that we might as well do it publicly in room 350, next to the chamber. And boy, what a fanfare that was, because a number of our colleagues were then challenged to do something similar and at least get tested privately," said Fox.

Other award recipients included Chris Censullo, who ran the last two Boston Marathons and raised more than $4000 for AIDS Action through pledges over those two years; South End chef Gordon Hamersley, who was acknowledged for his role in organizing AIDS Action's Taste of the South End fundraiser; the Grand Circle Foundation, which has provided extensive financial support for AIDS Action; the Imperial Court of Massachusetts, which has raised over $100,000 for AIDS Action's programs and services; and the MAC AIDS Fund, the cosmetic company's HIV/AIDS charity, which has given grants worth more than $250,000 to AIDS Action since its founding in 1994.

Drusilla Pratt-Otto, AIDS Action's chief financial officer, told attendees that over the past year there was a $330,000 increase in revenue over the prior year. She said the organization has suffered a decrease in public funding at the city, state and federal levels, but those cuts have been offset by increases in private funding. AIDS Action's 2007 fiscal year ended with a decrease in net assets of about $19,000, but Pratt-Otto explained that this was due to a one-time donation by AIDS Action to Victory Programs of real estate on Boston Harbor's Long Island. Victory Programs, a substance abuse treatment provider, converted the donated facility into Joelyn's Family Home, a residential recovery program for mothers that allows them to stay with their children.

"If one of the things we're talking about is efficiency, the story with that is we took a piece of real estate that was donated for hospice services, which we were no longer able to use in that way, and we aren't in real estate management, and the goal was to redeploy that financial asset in a way that really meets the needs of people in this environment," said Pratt-Otto. "So that is really the incredible story behind that event. So net for the year we had a $19,000 loss, but that does include a $350,000 gift, the Joelyn Family Home, and before that it was a $330,000 gain."

The meeting featured a keynote speech by Wainwright Bank co-chairman Robert Glassman, who talked about the bank's efforts to combine its work as a for-profit business with its dedication to social justice. He cited Wainwright's partnership with AIDS Action and Victory Programs in opening Joelyn's Family Home.

"This collaborative program is the perfect example of the kinds of holistic care needed to prevent HIV infections and provide successful treatment for infected clients. At Wainwright we provided both financial services and philanthropic support for this program," said Glassman.