Patron & Sponsor Appreciation Party
Each year Joining Hearts invites its Patrons and Sponsors to an exclusive VIP appreciation cocktail party and silent auction. This annual tradition allows Joining Hearts to personally thank those that help make our events a success.
Sunday: July 18, 2010
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Please join us for the annual Patron & Sponsor Appreciation Party for Joining Hearts 23. This is our only private event of the year where we say Thank You to all those who have donated to our cause, our Patrons and Sponsors that help us produce all of our events year round. New Patrons and Sponsor are always welcome so while this event is private, anyone can become a Patron or Sponsor at the door the night of the event.
Grey Goose Specialty Cocktails
Bites from Bridge Catering
Beats by DJ Mike Pope
Silent Auction including:
Weekend Flyaway Vacations
Bahamas Cruise Vacation
Artwork from Patrick Hanson
Boy Next Door
Saks Fifth Avenue
Grey Goose
Urban Body Studios
plus much more…
A note from the President:
We thank you – our patrons and sponsors so very much for helping Joining Hearts create a home for so many people living with HIV/AIDS. By helping Joining Hearts you are doing more than allowing us to create a home, you are creating hope for those that are hopeless, you are extending your hand to help those that need a lift back up and you are drying the tears of those that are discouraged.
Two years ago I had the honor of meeting one such person. It was a young man that was helped by Joining Hearts. He came to speak at a fundraising event for us – he said he wanted to tell his story and thank everyone for helping him. As he approached the microphone, I could tell that he wasn’t nervous. He truly felt gratitude for being able to speak and this gave him courage. As he began to speak, tears came to my eyes and I knew that we truly made a difference in his life.
He had been living with HIV for 7 years. Recently his health had declined to the point that he could no longer work and was reliant on disability for income. He made adjustments to his life and had been able to make it. One day, he was walking to his doctor’s office when he began to feel numbness in his feet, legs and his arms. He felt dizzy and started to have a seizure – right in the middle of a crosswalk. He fell in the street and hit his head hard on the hot cement. He split the back of his head open and began bleeding. He woke up 16 days later in his hospital bed, from a coma.
He recovered and was able to go back home, only to find his mailbox full of bills. The doctor costs money. The medicines cost money. The hospital costs money. He had no extra money to pay for his treatment and in desperation, turned to his case manager at AID Atlanta for help. He could not pay for all of his expenses plus his rent, gas and electricity.
His case manager suggested that he apply for assistance with a special fund set up by Joining Hearts. He explained that this fund is set up by Joining Hearts to help people living with HIV/AIDS pay for housing expenses in times of trouble. He thought, I am in trouble, so he applied and was approved. This assistance allowed him to stay in his apartment – his home. Safe from the evection notices and the past due utility bills, he could now concentrate on getting better.
Patrons and Sponsors, this is the kind of help you are providing when you give to Joining Hearts – and we all thank you.
Ben Hadsock
Joining Hearts President