$1,280.70

Montreal, here I come!

I've now begun training for the 2024 rally - I'm going to ride from Toronto to Montreal in August of 2024 AND I'm going to support an organization that matters (a lot) to me: THE TORONTO PEOPLE WITH AIDS FOUNDATION (PWA).

This is where you come in!

I invite you to join me in support of the PWA - an essential AIDS Service Organization that helps people living with HIV/AIDS.

Consider a gift of $5, $10, $1,000. Anything and everything matters. 

Read on to know more about the PWA's services as well as my personal reasons for supporting this cause.
However! Just like previous years, if you need some immediate incentive to donate, I will again be offering sexy spanex photos along the route, 6-days worth! 

No email inbox is complete without sweaty, spandex-y pictures of me as I slog along next to Lake Ontario in the sweltering August sun for a week straight.


What does the PWA do?

The PWA provides life saving support to over 2500 people living with HIV/AIDS, including:
 

• Financial aid;
• Food supplies (many clients are facing food insecurity and there has been a 38% increase in demand for the PWA's Food Essentials Market since the pandemic hit);
• Therapeutic care, health and wellness services;
• Access to necessary and affordable medications;
• Harm reduction;
• Connections to other services like housing, disability, and employment support.
   

Why is the PWA important to me?

There are two primary reasons I am supporting the PWA.

1. Giving back to my community 
I've been reflecting on what community means to me, where I fit within my own community, and how I can support those in need. 
The Village is my community.
In my 18 years of living in Toronto, the people who make up the Village have helped shape who I am today. These friends and allies have taught me confidence, how to love more openly and freely, and how to find my own voice.
This virus has been affecting my community disproportionately for decades as HIV/AIDS is a condition for which there is no cure.
Advances in medicine have allowed people living with HIV/AIDS to live long lives with the virus and so people are no longer dying as often of HIV/AIDS, but they are living with the effects of it.
HIV also disproportionately affects the most marginalized people in society, who often don't have the resources to manage their illness. 
With proper treatment and support, most people with HIV can avoid getting AIDS, stay healthy, and live a long life. To achieve this, people with HIV require expensive medication, wellness, and nutritional assistance and support in confronting the stigma associated with the diagnosis. Not everyone has access to these support networks.

I'm biking for the PWA as now is the time to support my Village, a Village built on love and support, who have given so much to me.

2. Fighting the stigma
A diagnosis of HIV/AIDS is full of stigma, from those outside our community, and from those within. There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding what it's like to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2024. 
The more we talk about it, the more we share and connect, the more we learn - the less stigma there will be. 

I'm biking for the PWA so that my friends, family, and support networks talk and learn more about HIV/AIDS so that we can reduce the stigma associated with the diagnosis.