CAEAR Coalition Mourns the Death of Randy Allgaier: A True Champion for People Living with HIV/AIDS

Reprinted with permission from The CAEAR Coalition original article
(Washington, DC)––The CAEAR Coalition community celebrates the life and mourns the passing of our colleague and leader Randy Allgaier who died on November 27 in San Francisco. A longtime advocate for people living with HIV and LGBT equality, he was a member of CAEAR Coalition for the past seven years and served on our Board of Directors as the Chair of the People Living with HIV/AIDS Caucus since 2008. At the time of his death, he was Director of the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council, of which he had previously served as Co-chair.

We are thankful for his commitment to people living with AIDS by working to ensure access to quality medical care and treatment for all. We honor his passion, his sense of justice, his humor, and his work ethic.

Earlier in his career, he was the state advocate for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, where he took a leading role in building a statewide coalition that successfully advocated for significant increases for California’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. He was also very active in the areas of HIV and Medicare/Medicaid and served on the Board of Directors of National Positive Working Coalition. As an animal lover, one of his proudest achievements was his service as President of the Board of Pets are Wonderful Support (PAWS) in San Francisco. He was also a founder of the state-wide LGBT advocacy organization Equality California and served on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign. To all of these endeavors he brought his signature passion, creativity, and diligence to the work at hand.

Randy will be fondly remembered and deeply missed. We send our love and prayers to his husband Lee Hawn and the rest of his family.

7 Favorite Charities: The Shanti Project Works With AIDS and Breast Cancer Patientsby Laura Mason

Shanti Project extends a hand to the most vulnerable people in our society. Started by Dr. Charlie Garfield in 1974, Shanti was the first organization in the country to work directly with AIDS patients, and has become an international model for similar work in 600 organizations. They facilitated the first-ever international training on how to work with people with AIDS at the request of the French, British and Belgian governments in 1982. We talked with Executive Director Kaushik Roy about the trailblazing ways Shanti's staff and 250 volunteers help those in need every day.
How did you get involved?
When I was in college at Cal in the late 90s, I heard a public service announcement on late night radio about this place called the Shanti Project. It was talking about volunteering and working one on one with a person who had AIDS and giving them emotional and practical support because there may not have been anyone else in their life who could do that for them. I was just so struck by that message. The first thing I did was call up Shanti to volunteer. I showed up and was just totally blown away by the experience. I saw that Shanti had some of the most dedicated, passionate people. They were doing such incredible work, and doing work for people who not only had medical challenges, but they really were all alone.

Click here to read more.

Shanti's 36th Annual Benefit Profiled in Bay Times!



Honoree Connie Champagne,
presenter James Hormel,
honoree Sandra hernandez and
Executive Director Kaushik Roy.
Photo by Rink.

Shanti Holds 36th Annual Gala
By Dennis McMillan
Published: October 21, 2010

Shanti’s 36th annual benefit, “Compassion Is Universal,” was held on Oct. 13 at Hotel Nikko. Founded in 1974 by Dr. Charlie Garfield at the UCSF Cancer Institute, Shanti was one of the first-ever volunteer organizations to work with terminally ill individuals, and later became one of the very first community-based HIV/AIDS organizations in the world. Shanti has trained over 15,000 volunteers in the Bay Area and 600 organizations worldwide in the Shanti Model of Peer Support. In the Bay Area alone, Shanti volunteers have provided over 3 million hours of care-giving. Each year, Shanti serves over 2,400 people with breast cancer or HIV/AIDS, so that a client does not have to face a life-threatening illness alone. During the dinner, overhead screens showed videos of various happy clients and their Shanti volunteers helping to walk a dog or shop for groceries or just the two enjoying being together in a moment of unconditional love.

To read more click here.

Compassion is Universal

On Wednesday, October 13th we, along with 520 of our supportive community members, celebrated our 36th year of compassionate work at the Hotel Nikko.  The evening was celebratory as we honored some of Shanti's heros,

National L.I.F.E. Facilitator Training in San Francisco

Gradutes of the L.I.F.E. Facilitator Training

On October 14, 2010, Shanti staff concluded a three day training with 16 of our newest L.I.F.E. Facilitators. Trainees traveled from as far away as South Florida, Chicago, and Kansas City, and as near as Sonoma, Sacramento, and San Francisco to learn how to implement the L.I.F.E. Program©, an HIV-self management and health-enhancement program that runs in 18 sites across the nation. Shanti helps these agencies implement effective programming by developing cutting-egde curriculum materials, and providing training, technical assistance, and outcomes evaluation. HIV+ participants of the L.I.F.E. Program© learn how to improve and maintain their health by addressing biological, psychological, and social cofactors that can drive health outcomes.

To learn more about L.I.F.E., click here. For more information about bringing L.I.F.E. to your agency or region, please contact our Director of Program Development by email or at (415) 674-4716.

Beats for Boobs Put On Their Annual Fundraiser

This past October 8^th a dozen Shanti staff and volunteers came out to help local benefactor, Beats for Boobs, put on their annual fundraiser. The event was held at the stylish urban locale, Mezzanine SF night club and was a wonderful cocktail of art, fashion, food, fire dancers, roller derby girls and music. This year’s event aimed to raise $50,000 with all proceeds going to Shanti’s LifeLines Breast Cancer Program, the Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund.  

We Celebrate Our Volunteers!

On Tuesday, September 14, Shanti staff, board members, and volunteers gathered at Som Bar in the Mission District for a night of celebration, food and drinks. The focus of the evening was to honor and celebrate Shanti’s amazing volunteers for the time and energy they devote to their clients each year. The night drew together both long time and new volunteers---including many members of Shanti’s most recent training group from August 2010.

Over 200 Shanti volunteers provide emotional and peer support services to people living with HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer every year. Without our volunteers, Shanti wouldn’t be able to provide the same level of service to our clients. We thank you for your time, energy and compassion!

We also want to thanks Som Bar for generously offering the use of their space, in addition to Whole Foods, Rainbow Grocery, Rosamunde’s, Out of Thyme, and La Med for donating food and desserts for the event.

You can check out some beautiful photos from the event here.