Community Care's HIV/AIDS Program (C-CHAP) will be hosting their annual AIDS Awareness Fundraiser for May 18th from noon to 4:00 pm at the Alex Thomas Plaza.
According to C-CHAP program director Henry Sadowski, proceeds will help provide continuing services and outreach to people living with HIV/AIDS in our community.
Music will be provided by All About Sally, Black Velvet and Wolf Tree Music, with North Ukiah Rotary barbecuing burgers and hot dogs. "We'll be pouring Navarro, Husch, Brutacao, Graziano and Testa Wines, with beer from Ukiah and Anderson Valley Brewing Companies," Sadowski continues. There will be children's activities, art activities, a raffle and what can only be described as an amazing silent auction.
Auction items include a gourmet dinner on the Napa Valley Wine Train paired with a stay at the Napa River Inn, two nights and a tour of Seabiscuit Ranch, a stay at Mendocino Seaside Cottage paired with dinner and passes to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, and gift certificates for the Mendocino Music Festival with dinners at the Headlands Inn and Trillium Café.
"That's only the beginning," smiles Sadowski. Other auction items include a dinner and a stay at Anderson Valley's Madrones, whiskey by Mendocino Spirits, coffee from Black Oak Coffee Roasters, a "fancy cake" from Cousteaux Bakery, a meal and cookbook from Geyserville's Catelli's Restaurant, and "lots and lots of wine donations," Sadowski grins. "We are also raffling tons of stuff- too much to mention." Silent auction bidders may come to the event, bid, and leave, but those purchasing raffle tickets must be present to win.
"This year's event allows us to share our program and the issues our clients struggle with. State funding for HIV/AIDS support programs continues to be the same, even as inflation has skyrocketed, so services for our clients have been severely curtailed. The fundraiser will help us support clients with case management, support groups and assistance with housing, utilities, food and transportation," says Sadowski. "Our funders are great, but our clients still have important, unmet needs- like batteries for wheelchairs, or glasses not covered by Medicare," he continues.
C-CHAP has provided services to people in Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma Counties living with HIV/AIDS since 1988. Enrollees must be eligible for Medi-Cal and live within Community Care's service area. C-CHAP is funded through grants from the California State Office of AIDS, Part B of the Ryan White CARE Act, Lake County Behavioral Health and AODS, the Redbud Health Care District, Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), and community donations.
"When a person enrolls in C-CHAP, a Nurse Case Manager and a Social Work Case Manager meets with clients to learn their needs, develop a plan and coordinate all aspects of life," Sadowski continues.
"We assist in managing medical, financial, domestic, and emotional issues. We help make sure clients have the latest information about home care and medical treatments. We can help secure Social Security and Medi-Cal benefits and help clients access affordable housing," Sadowski continues. C-CHAP also provides HIV prevention education to young people- one of the fastest growing populations affected by HIV/AIDS. "We also provide testing, education, prevention, counseling, and substance abuse counseling services for the community at large."
In addition to the "fun-raising," C-CHAP's fundraiser will feature client speakers who will speak about living with HIV/AIDS. Sanjuanita Valdez has been a client of C-CHAP since about 2009. This is her story.
"I started using IV drugs after I got raped and tortured by five motorcycle gang members. That was in 1974-75," she begins. Valdez was a downtown dancer at what was that time the infamous Big Al's nightclub in San Francisco's North Beach.
"I was done with my shift. A van pulled up and put something over my face. I woke up in their clubhouse- complete with the Swastika flag- the whole thing. I was a prisoner, and I started using heavily." At some point, she managed an escape.
"I was running down the sidewalk with chains on me. I got to another house where they cut the rope off my legs. Then I went to the bathroom." She looked out the bathroom window and saw a little bird sitting on a tree. "This sounds weird, but I heard the bird say, 'Fly!' I was still in their control. I threw myself out the window and ran down the street."
Valdez had unknowingly run from one gang member's house to another's. "I heard a siren, and the police came. The gang members told the police I had escaped from an insane asylum." Luckily, a neighbor had seen Valdez's escape attempt, and she was escorted by the police to a hospital.
"The gang found me at the hospital and came to my bedside. They told me that if I testified against them, they would go after every member of my family and friends. There was no witness protection for me. When I recovered, I left the state and assumed a false identity. Guess why they kidnapped me? For a gram of coke and a $100 dollar bill missing at a party. I had nothing to do with either of those." Five years later, she was diagnosed with HIV.
Sorrow continued to follow Valdez- this time, taking the life of her husband.
"We had bought our first home in Lake County together- a beautiful, rent-to-own home. We had two dogs and a brand-new truck. One day, my husband came home. He was so excited. He had some crystal meth and asked me to try it. I had been sober for many years. I said, 'No. I don't care what you say. When you come down, don't talk to me.'"
Several days later, her husband returned home.
"He was standing in the driveway, holding one arm. He was crying. Walking sideways. Unable to talk. I asked him, 'What's going on?' I didn't know. I didn't know what to do. The next day, he woke up- still crying. I don't know where I got the strength, but I shoved him into the front seat of the truck and drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital. He was helicoptered to St. Helena. He was having a heart attack and a stroke. He died five days later."
Fast-forward to 2009.
"I had a house fire. I lost everything, including my dogs." From there, Valdez moved to Laytonville. "I was living in a house full of rats and mold. I was about ready to run myself into a gas truck- in suicide mode. I was driving down 101 and had to go to the bathroom. I stopped at Area 101. I walked out of the bathroom and there was Tim Blake." Blake, founder of the legendary Emerald Cup cannabis competition is the owner of the Area 101 property north of Laytonville, the site of the first Emerald Cup.
"Tim asked, 'Why are you crying?' We went back inside and sat on the couch. I was thinking about all of it- my husband, the fire, the mold, the dogs- all down the drain. 'Why am I still here?' I asked him. Tim offered me a cottage at Area 101. I did my first Indian sweat there, on my birthday. From there, I came into this program. I owe my life to Tim Blake."
Valdez got referred by the Lake County C-CHAP program to the Ukiah office. "They helped get me into a subsidized apartment, which is where I live now. They helped with utilities, rent and they just bought me a new bed. I'm sleeping like an angel now."
"One of the things we do is distribute Safeway and Food Maxx gift cards, gasoline cards and bus passes," says Sadowski. "That totals about $35,000 per month in addition to food that we distribute from our pantries."
"This program has helped keep me stable. I'm not a thief and I'm not a liar. When it comes to being hungry, I've had the avenue of stealing food. I don't need to do that. I have C-CHAP," says Valdez.
Once she had stable housing and survived a triple bypass, Valdez blossomed.
"I'm going to Mendocino College, taking music and guitar. I recorded my first song with Rodney Grissanti. I'm going to be taking music theory and fundamentals," says Valdez. She describes her love song. "'Flowers in your hair, the shine in your eyes, always missing you, making me wise,' stuff like that. Like Mary Magdalene singing to Jesus," she grins. Though she is guided by faith, Valdez follows no specific religious tradition.
"I went from Christian to Catholic to Baptist. Now, I'm just a believer. It isn't about religion. It's about a spiritual journey. I don't see God as a mean, rude God. I believe in the Creator. I see God as a spiritual relationship within you," she says, touching her heart. "I know inside me that I am a channel of the Creator. Your body is a spiritual temple."
Valdez has taken to supporting other addicts when she can.
"I'm working with one now. What I tell them: own your own self. There's a lot of drugs and alcohol that you could do any time. But at the very end of all of it, there's only going to be you. How can I look at myself in the mirror and not be clean? That's not me. Be yourself. Be your real self. You know what drugs are? They are a product made by somebody trying to get rich off you. You do drugs and your pain might be gone for a minute. Who's getting rich? Not you. This is why I'm so against drugs. If I was the drug czar, watch out, world!" she grins.
Valdez is most proud of another accomplishment.
"I'm off all my psych meds. My doctor said, 'You don't need them anymore.' "What I needed were these people," she says- pointing to Sandowski and Loraine Wilder, RN for the C-CHAP program.
"Psych meds and HIV meds take a toll on your body," says Wilder. "We've had clients that say, 'I'm done with the HIV meds.' The quality of life wasn't there for them. We had a client ask a difficult question during Covid. 'If they can make a vaccine that quickly, why isn't there a vaccine for HIV?' One client was suddenly being charged thousands of dollars by Medicare for their antiretroviral medications. That's something we can help people figure out," she continues.
"A lot of people who have HIV don't want anyone to know. All we can do is pray for them," says Valdez, recalling a time she was introduced to a man through a mutual friend. "We started talking over a donut and coffee. There was a little spark there- until I told him I had HIV. Then the brakes went on. Suddenly he was saying, 'I've got to go, nice meeting you.'"
"There is still a stigma about HIV/AIDS. It's not fair," Wilder notes.
"These people have given me so much love over the years. They've influenced me, inspired me and given me a reason to grow and be a better person in the community. They're here to help us, and they do it with so much love and kindness. I don't ever want to be something bad. I want to see Loraine and Henry smiling- every time they look at me," Valdez concludes.
For information, visit http://www.communitycare707.com or phone (707) 462-3041.
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