Wednesday 7/28/2010
Behind Every Closed Door. . .
The following is the first part of an incredible story. Matthew Barrett could very well be you. His courage and honesty remind us that we all are in a process; the process of health, growth, education, and making a difference
Thursday 5/27/2010
Honor LGBT Veteran's
This Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, at 11AM there will be a wreath laying ceremony held to commemorate LGBT Veteran's and Service Men and Women of the Armed Forces at Space Park, (815-817 W Roscoe)
The Memorial Day ceremony is also the platform for making history in Chicago as an announcement will be made for a project scheduled to begin in June 2010 to erect a monument in honor of our LGBT Service men and women in Space Park.
The laying of the wreath will be symbolic both in acknowledging respect to our LGBT Veteran's as well as marking the location of the proposed art project. The event, organized by Chicago native and LGBT activist Stephen Crawford, in cooperation with The Lake View Citizens’ Council and Triangle Neighbor's Association, will be conducted by the American Veterans for Equal Rights Chicago Chapter.
Speakers at the event will include a number of guests such as Rick Garcia, Director of Policy for Equality Illinois; members of the American Veteran's for Equal Rights Chicago Chapter: Jim Darby - President, Ed Wosyloas - Board Member, and Bill Beaman – Secretary, and travis – Treasurer, along with Stephen Crawford - Coordinator of the event and monument project.
Members of the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus will perform our National Anthem. This is a free event at Space Park. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the event to show support and pay our respect to the LGBT Veteran's and current service members of the Armed Forces.
For further information or interviews, please contact Stephen Crawford at HumanElementCoalition@Gmail.com or by phone at 312-857-8432. Information is also posted on the Lake View Citizens' Council website at Lakeviewcitizens.org
The Memorial Day ceremony is also the platform for making history in Chicago as an announcement will be made for a project scheduled to begin in June 2010 to erect a monument in honor of our LGBT Service men and women in Space Park.
The laying of the wreath will be symbolic both in acknowledging respect to our LGBT Veteran's as well as marking the location of the proposed art project. The event, organized by Chicago native and LGBT activist Stephen Crawford, in cooperation with The Lake View Citizens’ Council and Triangle Neighbor's Association, will be conducted by the American Veterans for Equal Rights Chicago Chapter.
Speakers at the event will include a number of guests such as Rick Garcia, Director of Policy for Equality Illinois; members of the American Veteran's for Equal Rights Chicago Chapter: Jim Darby - President, Ed Wosyloas - Board Member, and Bill Beaman – Secretary, and travis – Treasurer, along with Stephen Crawford - Coordinator of the event and monument project.
Members of the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus will perform our National Anthem. This is a free event at Space Park. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the event to show support and pay our respect to the LGBT Veteran's and current service members of the Armed Forces.
For further information or interviews, please contact Stephen Crawford at HumanElementCoalition@Gmail.com or by phone at 312-857-8432. Information is also posted on the Lake View Citizens' Council website at Lakeviewcitizens.org
Community CalendarQ
Thursday 5/6/2010
Remarks from the Reverend Stan J. Sloan
The Chicago House annual Spring Brunch & Fashion Show took place recently raising over $100,000 dollars for its important work.
Chicago House Chief Executive Officer Rev. Stan J. Sloan gave amazing remarks to the crowd of 400 plus attendees. Sadly the sound system was not being overly cooperative. To that end Chicago House has distributed his remarks to for us to pass on to you here:
The author Elizabeth Srout says every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. I think what she is trying to say is that every one of us has aspects of our lives that we are proud of, and every one of us has aspects of our lives that we wish we could do over...and this time smarter, do better, do with more integrity . Many of you may have read the obituary a few weeks ago for Jim Dohr. For those of you that didn't know or read about him, Jim became HIV+ in the mid 80's when AIDS was a near immediate death sentence for nearly everyone who syro converted. His response to watching his friends and peers with HIV die while he was spared for over two decades was to spend his life making life better for men, women, and children affected by AIDS. Here are just a few lines from his obituary in the papers: it was Jim’s HIV diagnosis which perhaps had the most profound impact on his work, and his desire to help others. Says Judith Johns, former executive director of Howard Brown and former assistant commissioner of health for the City of Chicago, "Jim was one of the men who survived for many years after diagnosis – this was encouragement and hope for others…For the last 18 years, Jim consistently provided outstanding services to co-workers, community-based organizations, and all persons living with HIV, he truly understood the impact this epidemic has had on individuals and our community as a whole.” Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments, and that was easy to do for Jim Dohr. . Chicago House and our clients are just a small portion of the lives he touched in his work with the Chicago Department of Public Health, The HIV/AIDS communities will miss Jim and his life of better moments for decades to come.
Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. After seeing thousands of lives affected by HIV/AIDS over the last ten years at Chicago House one life stands out for me in haunting contrast to Jim's. The beginning of that life story is actually not atypical of most of our clients. It is the story of a woman who showed up at the door of our supportive living program exhausted, defeated, and finally ready to try working toward a different way of life. What made her story so unique, though, was not its beginning but its ending. Kirsten, our staff person on call that day, learned during the intake interview that the woman grew up on the streets of Chicago and lived her life hustling on those streets for her 42 years of life. Forty two years old and she had never had a job, or an apartment, or even a bed to call her own. She answered the questions honestly and completely until she was stumped toward the end of the interview when Kirsten asked her for the name and number of an emergency contact. 42 years old and not one relative, not one friend to call in the case of an emergency. Kirsten left those questions blank and showed the woman to her new room and home at Chicago House. The rooms at our Supportive Living Program are our only ones that are just that: private bedrooms with shared living spaces and shared bathrooms, but Kirsten told me that when the woman first saw her room she turned with tears in her eyes and said that it was the first home she had ever had. A few hours later Kirsten went to check on her and found her passed out on the floor. We called 911 and she was admitted to Cook County hospital. When she woke up later that day Kirsten was there at her bedside, and she asked Kirsten for the only other favor Chicago House was able to provide to her: "please don't let me die alone," she said. And Kirsten kept that promise, staying with her until the next morning when she died. The Supportive Living Program held a service for her, and although none of our other residents had met her, they all attended. Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. The silence that filled that room was deafening. Could it really be that after forty two years of life there were really no “better moments” to remember?
In your bags as you leave today you will find a cookie from Chicago House's Bakery: Sweet Miss Giving's: Unquestionably Kind. Unreasonably Good! As most of you know by now, Sweet Miss Giving's is the best made from scratch bakery in Chicago, and over 50% of its profits go immediately back to help the men, women, and children in our care. But you will find something more about Sweet Miss Giving's in your departure bag. The bag will also hold a one-page story of RJ, one of our recent graduates of Sweet Miss Giving's Bakery Internship program. Before joining the SMG internship program seven months ago, RJ's life was not much different from the woman who died in Kirsten's care. He lived on the streets for his first 30-plus years of life, and after nine years in prison he had returned to those streets. But RJ, too, was finally ready to try a different way of life. Chicago House and SMG have provided that opportunity. Next month he will not only become a full time employee of Sweet Miss Giving's, but he will move into his own apartment with his now life partner...an apartment where the son he has never known will visit and fill in voids that he in his previous life never knew he had.
Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. It's a nice thought and an easy one to fulfill when you, like Jim Dohr and I can only imagine most of us here, have lived a life full of moments encouraged by family and friends. Kirsten's client lived without knowing those moments, and she died before Chicago House could help her learn how amazing it feels to have hope, and integrity, and sense of accomplishment. But thanks to Chicago House she died with a home to call her own, and she died in the company of someone who cared. RJ's just now beginning a new life filled with better moments, but I am confident with the help of Chicago House and Sweet Miss Giving's that life will continue to grow and unfold. And I am confident that one day...hopefully many, many years from now, there will be plenty of better moments to remember as his friends and family look back on his life. Your support here and your support of Chicago House and Sweet Miss Giving's is what allows us to provide those better moments to those who have never had the chance to build them. So thank you from RJ and thank you from all of us. Life by life. Moment by moment, your support is making such a difference. Chicago House. We were there at the beginning. We will be here until the cure. Thanks again.
In my talk I stressed the importance of being remembered for your better moments, and now it is time to do just that for a dear friend of mine and a dear friend of Chicago House’s and Sweet Miss Giving’s Bakery, Brad Werner. Brad Werner came to hear of Chicago House through our dear friends Mary and Larry Boeder, and he has been a source of constant blessings for us since that time. Brad served Chicago House well as a board member and major donor until the time that we asked him to step down in order to assume an even larger role for our mission and our clients: that of becoming the largest investor of Sweet Miss Giving’s Bakery. Brad, Gus Atsalis, and Jay Deratany stepped up to the plate to help give Sweet Miss Giving’s its start, and Brad has continued to guide and nurture the bakery to assure its success. In addition, he has brought additional friends and investors to Sweet Miss Giving’s, and it is safe to say that there would be no SMG without him. Brad, the life of Chicago House and the lives of our clients are forever changed because of Sweet Miss Giving’s and because of you. In recognition of your outstanding contribution the Chicago House Board of Trustees is making you the seventh…and when I say seventh…I mean seven out of our 25 year history…our Seventh Lifetime Trustee. Know how grateful we are to you, and know how much we love you here. Brad?
Plan now to join Chicago House and ChicagoPride.com in attending the 13th Annual Birdhouse Art Auction & Reception June 24th.
Chicago House Chief Executive Officer Rev. Stan J. Sloan gave amazing remarks to the crowd of 400 plus attendees. Sadly the sound system was not being overly cooperative. To that end Chicago House has distributed his remarks to for us to pass on to you here:
The author Elizabeth Srout says every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. I think what she is trying to say is that every one of us has aspects of our lives that we are proud of, and every one of us has aspects of our lives that we wish we could do over...and this time smarter, do better, do with more integrity . Many of you may have read the obituary a few weeks ago for Jim Dohr. For those of you that didn't know or read about him, Jim became HIV+ in the mid 80's when AIDS was a near immediate death sentence for nearly everyone who syro converted. His response to watching his friends and peers with HIV die while he was spared for over two decades was to spend his life making life better for men, women, and children affected by AIDS. Here are just a few lines from his obituary in the papers: it was Jim’s HIV diagnosis which perhaps had the most profound impact on his work, and his desire to help others. Says Judith Johns, former executive director of Howard Brown and former assistant commissioner of health for the City of Chicago, "Jim was one of the men who survived for many years after diagnosis – this was encouragement and hope for others…For the last 18 years, Jim consistently provided outstanding services to co-workers, community-based organizations, and all persons living with HIV, he truly understood the impact this epidemic has had on individuals and our community as a whole.” Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments, and that was easy to do for Jim Dohr. . Chicago House and our clients are just a small portion of the lives he touched in his work with the Chicago Department of Public Health, The HIV/AIDS communities will miss Jim and his life of better moments for decades to come.
Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. After seeing thousands of lives affected by HIV/AIDS over the last ten years at Chicago House one life stands out for me in haunting contrast to Jim's. The beginning of that life story is actually not atypical of most of our clients. It is the story of a woman who showed up at the door of our supportive living program exhausted, defeated, and finally ready to try working toward a different way of life. What made her story so unique, though, was not its beginning but its ending. Kirsten, our staff person on call that day, learned during the intake interview that the woman grew up on the streets of Chicago and lived her life hustling on those streets for her 42 years of life. Forty two years old and she had never had a job, or an apartment, or even a bed to call her own. She answered the questions honestly and completely until she was stumped toward the end of the interview when Kirsten asked her for the name and number of an emergency contact. 42 years old and not one relative, not one friend to call in the case of an emergency. Kirsten left those questions blank and showed the woman to her new room and home at Chicago House. The rooms at our Supportive Living Program are our only ones that are just that: private bedrooms with shared living spaces and shared bathrooms, but Kirsten told me that when the woman first saw her room she turned with tears in her eyes and said that it was the first home she had ever had. A few hours later Kirsten went to check on her and found her passed out on the floor. We called 911 and she was admitted to Cook County hospital. When she woke up later that day Kirsten was there at her bedside, and she asked Kirsten for the only other favor Chicago House was able to provide to her: "please don't let me die alone," she said. And Kirsten kept that promise, staying with her until the next morning when she died. The Supportive Living Program held a service for her, and although none of our other residents had met her, they all attended. Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. The silence that filled that room was deafening. Could it really be that after forty two years of life there were really no “better moments” to remember?
In your bags as you leave today you will find a cookie from Chicago House's Bakery: Sweet Miss Giving's: Unquestionably Kind. Unreasonably Good! As most of you know by now, Sweet Miss Giving's is the best made from scratch bakery in Chicago, and over 50% of its profits go immediately back to help the men, women, and children in our care. But you will find something more about Sweet Miss Giving's in your departure bag. The bag will also hold a one-page story of RJ, one of our recent graduates of Sweet Miss Giving's Bakery Internship program. Before joining the SMG internship program seven months ago, RJ's life was not much different from the woman who died in Kirsten's care. He lived on the streets for his first 30-plus years of life, and after nine years in prison he had returned to those streets. But RJ, too, was finally ready to try a different way of life. Chicago House and SMG have provided that opportunity. Next month he will not only become a full time employee of Sweet Miss Giving's, but he will move into his own apartment with his now life partner...an apartment where the son he has never known will visit and fill in voids that he in his previous life never knew he had.
Every person deserves to be remembered for his or her better moments. It's a nice thought and an easy one to fulfill when you, like Jim Dohr and I can only imagine most of us here, have lived a life full of moments encouraged by family and friends. Kirsten's client lived without knowing those moments, and she died before Chicago House could help her learn how amazing it feels to have hope, and integrity, and sense of accomplishment. But thanks to Chicago House she died with a home to call her own, and she died in the company of someone who cared. RJ's just now beginning a new life filled with better moments, but I am confident with the help of Chicago House and Sweet Miss Giving's that life will continue to grow and unfold. And I am confident that one day...hopefully many, many years from now, there will be plenty of better moments to remember as his friends and family look back on his life. Your support here and your support of Chicago House and Sweet Miss Giving's is what allows us to provide those better moments to those who have never had the chance to build them. So thank you from RJ and thank you from all of us. Life by life. Moment by moment, your support is making such a difference. Chicago House. We were there at the beginning. We will be here until the cure. Thanks again.
In my talk I stressed the importance of being remembered for your better moments, and now it is time to do just that for a dear friend of mine and a dear friend of Chicago House’s and Sweet Miss Giving’s Bakery, Brad Werner. Brad Werner came to hear of Chicago House through our dear friends Mary and Larry Boeder, and he has been a source of constant blessings for us since that time. Brad served Chicago House well as a board member and major donor until the time that we asked him to step down in order to assume an even larger role for our mission and our clients: that of becoming the largest investor of Sweet Miss Giving’s Bakery. Brad, Gus Atsalis, and Jay Deratany stepped up to the plate to help give Sweet Miss Giving’s its start, and Brad has continued to guide and nurture the bakery to assure its success. In addition, he has brought additional friends and investors to Sweet Miss Giving’s, and it is safe to say that there would be no SMG without him. Brad, the life of Chicago House and the lives of our clients are forever changed because of Sweet Miss Giving’s and because of you. In recognition of your outstanding contribution the Chicago House Board of Trustees is making you the seventh…and when I say seventh…I mean seven out of our 25 year history…our Seventh Lifetime Trustee. Know how grateful we are to you, and know how much we love you here. Brad?
Plan now to join Chicago House and ChicagoPride.com in attending the 13th Annual Birdhouse Art Auction & Reception June 24th.
Tuesday 4/13/2010
$1000 Scholarship
$1000 Scholarship
The Association of Latino Men for Action (ALMA) announced that it will award $1,000 scholarships once again to two qualified Latino males.
The ALMA Scholarship was founded in 2003 by members Emmanuel Garcia and Tony Alvarado.
Since ALMA’s inception in 1989, the organization’s mission has been to empower Latino gay, bisexual, and questioning men by providing support, advocacy, and leadership opportunities, through innovative cultural programming. The ALMA scholarship is the unique embodiment of this mission.
The ALMA Scholarship Application Packet can be downloaded here. This packet contains information on requirements, deadlines, background information, and forms. This scholarship is open to undocumented students.
The Association of Latino Men for Action (ALMA) announced that it will award $1,000 scholarships once again to two qualified Latino males.
The ALMA Scholarship was founded in 2003 by members Emmanuel Garcia and Tony Alvarado.
Since ALMA’s inception in 1989, the organization’s mission has been to empower Latino gay, bisexual, and questioning men by providing support, advocacy, and leadership opportunities, through innovative cultural programming. The ALMA scholarship is the unique embodiment of this mission.
The ALMA Scholarship Application Packet can be downloaded here. This packet contains information on requirements, deadlines, background information, and forms. This scholarship is open to undocumented students.
REMEMBER: April 16th Day of Silence
Thursday 3/4/2010
Unite+Fight Midwest Conference
Register now and join ChicagoPride.com next week at the Unite+Fight Midwest Conference (March 12-14)
The action packed conference will feature Lt. Dan Choi, prominent activist against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Staceyann Chin, Jamaican-born lesbian performance artist & poet; and Adam Bouska, photographer and creator of the NOH8? Campaign.
Registration is just $15 and can be done by going to unitefightmidwest.ettend.com. For more information on the conference go to their website
The action packed conference will feature Lt. Dan Choi, prominent activist against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Staceyann Chin, Jamaican-born lesbian performance artist & poet; and Adam Bouska, photographer and creator of the NOH8? Campaign.
Registration is just $15 and can be done by going to unitefightmidwest.ettend.com. For more information on the conference go to their website
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