10 Million HIV-AIDS Deaths Preventable by 2025

As delegates begin to gather for the 18^th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria we are hearing that at least 10 million HIV-AIDS deaths could be averted by 2025.  Michael Sidibe, UNAIDS Executive Director says that in order to do so we must reshape the AIDS response through innovation that would bring down costs so that investments can reach more people.

 

To learn more about the radically simplified HIV treatment platform called Treatment 2.0, take a look at this article by Andre Picard from the Globe and Mail or see this information from UNAIDS.

Published by: GiveADay on July 15th, 2010 | Filed under Give a Day 2010, HIV/AIDS in Africa, Media, Workplace Campaigns
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HARAMBEE! – Gladstone Hotel – Friday, February 26

Come join us for an AIDS Awareness Dance Party at the Gladstone Ballroom in Toronto on Friday, February 26!  This event is presented by the Tia Anita Project and Gladstone World, and will be the final event to celebrate Black History Month.  The evening will feature music from the HARAMBEE! CD and live music from Valu David, Tich Maredza and Njacko Backo & Kalimba Kalimba.  Doors open at 9 pm.  We hope to see you there!

Published by: GiveADay on February 23rd, 2010 | Filed under GAD Events, Give a Day Harambees, Media
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Bishop Reding Students Host Pasta Dinner for World AIDS Day 2009

Alex Schroder, Give a Day supporter at Bishop Reding High School in Milton, Ontario writes…In honour of World Aids Day, the Student Athletic Association at Bishop Reding High School hosted their second annual pasta dinner on December 2nd.

When deciding where to direct our money this year, Give a Day and the Stephen Lewis Foundation seemed like the perfect decision; as the founder of Give A Day, Jane Philpott, is a close friend of mine and having heard Stephen Lewis speak on numerous occasions, he inspired me by his passion to “turn the tide on AIDS” by helping individuals at the grassroots level.  The night began with a delicious dinner provide by East Side Mario’s.  Over 100 community members attended, local retailers donated items for the silent auction and the new “Harambee” CD was for sale.  Margaret Wright, the Director of Operations for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, was our guest of honour.  She gave a moving speech on the plight of the millions of AIDS orphans in Africa.  I believe that it is important for people our age to be made aware of what is happening in our world and that the deciding factor that determines your likelihood of getting treatment for HIV should not be the country you are born in.

The evening was a huge success, raising over $2000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and it has inspired others to take action and create awareness for the AIDS/HIV pandemic.  By supporting this event people in our community were recognizing the need for change and responding to the crisis.

Published by: GiveADay on January 26th, 2010 | Filed under Give a Day 2009, Give a Day Harambees, HIV/AIDS in Africa, World AIDS Day 2009
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Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP- “Just Results” Auction for Give a Day

Vanessa Payne from SGM writes…When Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP decided to participate in the Give a Day Campaign in 2007, we wondered what we could do to raise as much money as possible, given that we are a relatively small firm.  We decided that a combination of humour and fear of public humiliation might do the trick, and the “Just Results Auction” was born (“Just Results” is the firm’s tag line).  The auction is now held each year in late November or early December to coincide with World AIDS Day and the Give a Day Campaign.

The Just Results Auction is both a silent auction and a live auction.  Lawyers and staff donate items for the silent auction, and food and drinks are available at the same time. During the silent auction this year, a staff member painted a partner’s face/head to look like a giant hamburger – it was a challenge that resulted in a $500 donation to the Campaign.

After the silent auction ends, the live auction begins.  The items available in the live auction give winning bidders an opportunity to make a lawyer(s) do something.  For example, there are some fairly innocuous items such as bidding to have a lawyer buy you flowers once a month for three months, to buy and deliver to you a fancy coffee once a week for 6 weeks, or to buy you a cake on your birthday.  Another item gives the winning bidder a right to pick a lawyer to go around the office at the end of a day and collect all the dirty glasses and mugs.  One year, a winning bidder could choose a lawyer to switch work stations with a staff member for a day. As a result, one of our lawyers wound up spending a day at reception answering the telephones and receiving courier packages (I’m not exactly sure what the receptionist did that day!).

However, the live auction items that raise the most money are not so benign – these items involve making lawyers perform at the firm’s holiday party, which takes place three or four weeks after the auction.  For example, one item gives the winning bidder(s) the right to choose 2 or 3 lawyers to act out a scene from a movie (chosen by the winning bidder) at the holiday lunch.  Past performances have included scenes from Brokeback Mountain and Pulp Fiction.  Another item gives the winner(s) the right to choose 2-3 lawyers to sing a song of the winner’s choice at the lunch (a performance of “Like a Virgin” by two male lawyers was particularly popular).  So in addition to raising money for a good cause, the auction also helps liven up our holiday party with all kinds of strange performances.

The main performance, however, takes place in our office the morning of the holiday party. The winning bidder(s) can select 5 or 6 lawyers to perform a pre-selected song.  For the past two years, these performances have been videotaped by a staff member.  You can see last year’s performance here. (You may notice that other people in our building also get to enjoy the show).

This past year, bidding on this item went crazy – it started out normally enough, but two “consortiums” of lawyers, staff and students suddenly emerged and started bidding against each other. In the end, the auctioneer decided to take everybody’s money and let each group choose 3 of the performers.  This added about $3000 to the total and resulted in this performance.

The Just Results Auction is one of the highlights of the year at SGM.  Hilarity reigns (even during bidding on the more benign items) usually as a result of the antics of our auctioneer, Mark Wright  (who is also the policeman in the first video and the guy wearing the mini-skirt in the second video).  The auction is fun, so it is well attended.  The desire (of at least some lawyers) to avoid being chosen to perform creates bidding wars – and bidding wars mean more money for the Campaign.

Now we just have to think of a great song for the group performance this year!

Published by: GiveADay on January 20th, 2010 | Filed under GAD Events, Give a Day 2009, Give a Day Harambees, Media, Workplace Campaigns
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World AIDS Day 2009 – Harambee Blues

In honour of World AIDS Day 2009, and to celebrate the release of the Harambee! CD, on Tuesday, December 1^st an extraordinary night of music took place at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto.  Harambee Blues was organized by Anne Stadlmair and the Tia Anita Project and those attending were inspired and entertained with fantastic music from Blue Room, Mike Stevens, Madagascar Slim and Digging Roots.  Hosts for the evening were Uitsile Ndlovu and Simba Nyawiri from Soul Influence.  We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Anne Stadlmair and to all the artists who showed their support for the Give a Day campaign and recipient organizations Dignitas International and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Information on purchasing copies of the HARAMBEE! CD is available by contacting info@giveaday.ca or by visiting the Tia Anita Project website.

 

Published by: GiveADay on December 7th, 2009 | Filed under GAD Events, Give a Day 2009, Give a Day Harambees, Media, World AIDS Day 2009
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Give a Day Pledge Week at Cassels Brock!

On Monday, Give A Day pledge week began with a “pop” as the delicious smell of fresh buttery popcorn filled the hallways of Cassels Brock. All of our articling students took a break from their due diligence and drafting assignments and joined the Give A Day team in the staff lounge to help pop and fill 500 cups of popcorn.

The response from the firm was amazing – pledge forms rolled in and everyone enjoyed their afternoon snack. Campaign representatives were also available to answer any questions that people might have about the Give A Day Campaign.

Our next event was a “Book Sale with Free Eats” on Wednesday afternoon. We received over 35 boxes of donations which were filled with all kinds of books, magazines, CDs and DVDs. During the sale, we played Give A Day’s informational DVD on a large screen and treated our shoppers to fruit, cheese, crackers and desserts.

Now that it is getting close to the end of pledge week, our group is busy baking 500 chocolate-chip cookies to distribute on Friday as a big “thank you” for participating in the Give A Day Campaign.  We expect to receive plenty of donations over the next two days and look forward to tallying the grand total at the end of the week.

Published by: GiveADay on November 27th, 2009 | Filed under GAD Events, Give a Day 2009, Workplace Campaigns, World AIDS Day 2009
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Kingsway Harambee – Inspires and Entertains

Over 70 west-end Toronto guests were inspired as well as entertained at the Kingsway Harambee hosted by Jennifer Keenan and Jo-Anne Sheffield on November 21st. There was good food, great music from Soul Influence, a live auction of Shona sculpture from Zimbabwe donated by ZimArt and a motivating presentation from the Give a Day founder Dr. Jane Philpott.

Published by: GiveADay on November 25th, 2009 | Filed under GAD Events, Give a Day 2009, Give a Day Harambees, HIV/AIDS in Africa, World AIDS Day 2009
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Jaja Sylvia’s Story

The Stephen Lewis Foundation writes…This morning we accompanied Angela, St. Francis’ capable young Grandmothers Officer, on a visit to one of the jajas  (grandmothers) in the community.  We drove down Jinja’s bumpy red roads through the village, and came to a house set back from the road. Next door, there was a small barn, which houses chickens and two young calves. In the background, we could hear the bleeting of a goat and the grunting of pigs.

On the way to Jaja Sylvia’s house, Angela told us more about St. Francis’ grandmothers programme. Although 120 grannies are currently receiving support – through granny groups, school fees, food parcels, the savings and loan programme, medical care, home visits and more – there are many more grandmothers in the community who would like to take part. One of the hardest things, Angela said, is having to turn grannies away because they don’t have the capacity to take on additional women at this time. There are so many grannies who could use the support.

 

The grandmothers being supported through St. Francis are either HIV positive themselves, or are caring for HIV-positive grandchildren, or both. On average, Angela said, they are caring for 8 or 9 children at home. I was surprised to learn that so many of the grannies are HIV positive themselves – an estimated 70 out of 120 in the group have the virus. HIV infection among older people is not frequently discussed, particularly in relation to sexuality – it is often seen as a taboo subject.

Jaja Sylvia first came to the St. Francis Health Centre in 2006. After caring for her adult children through the final stages of AIDS, she had seen the disease and the toll that it had taken on their lives. When she began to fall ill herself, she went and got tested at the centre, and learned that she was HIV-positive. St. Francis provided counselling, antiretroviral drugs and food parcels for her family, and her health began to improve dramatically. Today, she says, she is strong and feels healthy.

 

Sylvia was among the first grandmothers to be supported by St. Francis. She has lost four children to AIDS, and is now caring for five of her orphaned grandchildren, ranging from age three to fourteen. All of the grandchildren in her care are attending school – except the youngest, who is not yet old enough – and St. Francis is paying for their school fees. Jaja Sylvia is part of a local granny group and has been taking part in the group’s savings and loan programme. A few months ago, she was able to take out a loan of 100,000 UGS (about $50 CDN) to buy much-needed medicine and supplies for the new calves on her farm. She was able to repay the loan (plus 20% interest) within a month, and is assured future income and sustenance through the milk of the young calves.

 

In August 2006, Jaja Sylvia was one of a few grannies chosen by St. Francis to participate in the Grandmothers’ Gathering in Toronto. She spoke of the excitement of meeting grandmothers from Canada and from across Africa, and to learn that she was not alone. “It was very encouraging to learn that grandmothers across Africa were facing the same challenges,” she said. After returning home to Uganda, Jaja Sylvia helped to set up the grandmothers programme at St. Francis. With funding from the Stephen Lewis Foundation, they began starting groups, giving out loans for income-generation, providing counsellors and paying school fees. As a result, she said, there has been a big change in the community.

 

Jaja Sylvia asked me to pass on to the grandmothers of Canada that she and her fellow jajas are grateful for their support and solidarity, and that it has made a difference in their lives. She hopes to meet more Canadian grandmothers in the future – perhaps at a future Grandmothers’ Gathering. 

Her hope, like so many other grandmothers in the community, is for her grandchildren to be able to attend secondary school, and university or vocational training. “There are so many intelligent children,” she said. “We want them to grow up to be whatever they want to be. We want them to be good people – educated, disciplined. We want the same as everyone else.”

Published by: GiveADay on November 24th, 2009 | Filed under Give a Day 2009, HIV/AIDS in Africa, Recipient News
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Dignitas Co-Founder James Fraser Speaks at Torys LLP

Jackie Taitz, member of the Torys LLP Give a Day campaign team writes…On Tuesday November 10th James Fraser spoke before a large crowd at Torys, a law firm in downtown Toronto, as part of their annual Give A Day to World AIDS campaign. The audience was moved by Mr. Fraser’s graphic description of the state of health care and the response to HIV and AIDS at the time of his first visit to the Zomba hospital. The transformation that Dignitas, working together with Malawian health officials, has fostered in a few short years left those in attendance truly in awe of Dignitas’ impressive achievements.

Many at Torys walked away from Mr. Fraser’s presentation inspired by the work that Dignitas is doing and motivated to financially support its efforts. The event was a huge success and Torys greatly appreciates Mr. Fraser taking the time to share his remarkable experiences with us.

Published by: GiveADay on November 24th, 2009 | Filed under Give a Day 2009, Workplace Campaigns, World AIDS Day 2009
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Harambee Blues – for World AIDS Day and CD Launch of Harambee!

On Tuesday, December 1st, World AIDS Day, come to “Harambee Blues” – a night of music for World AIDS Day , and the CD launch of “Harambee!” featuring Madagascar Slim, Digging Roots, Mike Stevens, Blue Room with hosts for the evening Uitsile Ndlovu and Simba Nyawiri (of Soul Influence). The event takes place at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto (486 Spadina Ave) – doors open at 6:00pm (dinner menu available), and the show begins at 7:30pm. Admission is $10.00   http://www.silverdollarroom.com/

Published by: GiveADay on November 23rd, 2009 | Filed under GAD Events, Give a Day 2009, Give a Day Harambees, Workplace Campaigns, World AIDS Day 2009
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