Since 1991, Dining Out For Life has been raising funds and awareness for HIV/AIDSprevention and treatment. Each year, more than 3,000 restaurants in North America participate by donating a significant portion of their proceeds of the evening’s earnings to a licensed Aids service agency in their city. Last year, more than $4 million was raised, nationally. This year’s event will take place Thursday, April 27, and in Southwest Michigan, 32 restaurants will participate by donating at least 25 percent of the evening’s proceeds to CARES (Community AIDS Resource and Education Services).
Kelly Doyle is the Executive Director at CARES. She says her work in HIV/AIDS dates back to 1997 when she began volunteering for CARES.
“I got involved with the work because I had a close friend who was diagnosed with AIDS in the 1990’s and died. I wasn’t sure how to handle what had happened so I went to volunteer at CARES to get a better understanding of the disease and also the co-factors and environmental factors of what was happening.”
Doyle says that her friend was shunned for being gay and hid his HIV out of fear. Watching him struggle with not only the disease but also the stigma that accompanied it, was painful. “No one should have to deal with a life-threatening disease on their own or feel shame for having it,” says Doyle.