Too many irons

[storytimewithjoe]

I'm stressed. No other way to put it.

I opened up the calendar this morning and let out a huge sigh. I don't see a breather until sometime in mid October. Add on to that that I screwed up. I scheduled a couple of activities right on top of each other. And as luck would have it, the thing that I want to do MORE is frequently the thing that I need to cancel because the other thing is either more involved, or has more people counting on me.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Nobody to blame by myself, really. I should have been more precise. I should have been more careful.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Last night, Giles and I attended the awards dinner for AIDS Walk. Both of us placed in the top 15 walkers. I came in at 14. He came in at 12. To be perfectly honest, I'm not really happy about that. It isn't that I believe we should have placed higher. It is more like, I don't believe we should have placed at all. I raised somewhere in the $2,000's. He raised somewhere in the $3,000's. Based on recent years, we shouldn't have been up there with those numbers. There should have been more overall fundraising. To the best of my knowledge, AIDS Walk came in somewhere around $100K short of where we had projected. That isn't just scary. It is terrifying. Once again, we are faced with this question:

Agencies have been flat-funded by the government (e.g. same amount of money as has been received in past years).

Orange County now has MORE people infected with HIV than ever before, and the numbers keep going up. People are living longer - YEAH! But this means we have more people walking around with HIV. So exactly how are we supposed to tackle a problem involving MORE people with the same funding from government, and less money from private sources? If anybody has the solution, tell me.

Comments

[sero-sed-serio.livejournal.com]

I dunno... but individuals are getting hit with much the same issue. I don't know about anyone else, but my raise this year did not match the increases in the cost of living that happened in the last year. Not even close. And more and more expenses incurred by the businesses and corporations are being passed on to the consumer. I'm not often in a position to give to charities of any kind.

[aliskye.livejournal.com]

I wish I could give you a solution. I can't. It's a vitally important effort to support. But they all are. They all want my money. I only have so much. Sorry.....

[firedrake-mor.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, as we found out from experience, I think part of the problem with AIDS Walk's diminishing donations and participation is the organization. We'd volunteered for several years along with other members of our Star Trek fan club, and then, somehow, began getting calls all year round asking for more money. Now, frankly, my charitable donations are split between AIDS and various Cancer groups because of the number of people in my life who've died from both. Cancer edges out AIDS, but not by that much, honestly. What we got tired of was the constant exhortations to donate more and volunteer more. I told them to stop calling up and started giving my whole AIDS-relation donations to APLA.

Now: as for getting the general population to be more aware of AIDS issues. The movement walks a fine balance between making people optimistic about the progress in treating AIDS, and making the at-risk population more scared about acquiring it. With POZ magazine and the number of groups now devoted to "living with AIDS", the chief at-risk populations are becoming, I think less scared of getting the disease. I don't say it's right, but it is happening.

Frankly, at this point, I think you need to a) ramp up the campaigns making people scared of getting it, and b) keep the positive messages to the people who already have it. The at-risk groups (which, as I recall are the latino and black communities, both gay and straight), need to be horrified at the possibilities, and, you'll pardon the expression "scared white" at the chance of acquiring the HIV. Play up the mutations and medicine-resistant developments that have cropped up. Make more clear the issues of exchange of bodily fluids, as distateful as some people might find the comments in public. They bloody well SHOULD find it distasteful! Make sure the families of the HIV+ understand ALL the risks involved for their infected family member.

If I sound vehement, it's because a few years ago, I saw a man who'd been HIV+ for close to 10 years, who was in excellent health, a bodybuilder, and a very special English teacher for troubled youth, go from the glow of health to dead in four months because his mother chivvied him into getting a flu shot, one day when they were at a grocery store. She refused to understand (and maybe HE didn't know) that a flu shot contains live viruses, and basically threw him into full-blown AIDS in the space of a very few weeks.

Sorry for the rant; you just hit one of my hot buttons about the AIDS organizations and the way they're handling things.

It's a combo...

[flaming-mo.livejournal.com]

Shitty economy. Bad governemnt. Complacent society. And as was said previously, poor organization AND a lack of imagination as far as the planning of fundraising events.

Sorry to sound insensitive, but EVERYONE does some kind of walk or 5-15K running moneymaker. Think outside the box. Balloon rides, theme dinners, hanggliding, adventure sports, etc. could be a lot more fun and exciting. The average small scale philanthropist sometimes wants a little bang for their buck. Sometimes fingerwagging and guilt is not enough to motivate.