AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) celebrated 40 years of service to the community at its sold-out gala April 5 at The Geraghty in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Over 750 people attended the event.
Since 1985, AFC has worked at the intersections of advocacy, prevention, treatment, housing and education to ensure its many thousands of clients receive the necessary support and services they need to survive and thrive.
Ahead of the festivities, a cocktail reception took place where guests were invited to view an archival display and mosaic that was created for the occasion. Performers Angela Ingersoll and Ari Gato served as the event emcees.
AFC Board Chair Geof Brown reminded the audience that this event takes place to both celebrate progress and “remember where we started, and the many people we have loved and lost along the way to this present moment.” Brown asked for a moment of silence for those who have died from AIDS.
Brown recognized the many elected officials in the room: Illinois Congressional Delegation Reps Raja Krishnamoorthi and Mike Quigley; Illinois state Sens. Sarah Feigenholtz and Mike Simmons; Illinois state Reps. Kelly Cassidy and Hoan Huynh; Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison; Chicago Alds. Bennett Lawson, Lamont Robinson and Gilbert Villegas; Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis; former Illinois House Majority Leader Greg Harris; and former Chicago Alds. Ameya Pewar and Tom Tunney.
The evening’s awardees included American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Senior Program Officer Craig W. Johnson (Lori Kaufman Volunteer Award); the Fortune 300 global multi-industrial manufacturing leader and member of AFC’s Corporate Partnership Program ITW (Corporate Impact Award); and Cassidy and Simmons (Greg Harris Legislative Champion Award).
Johnson, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2004, has been involved with several charitable initiatives and grant-funded projects in his role at the AMA. He was an AFC board of directors member from 2016-2022, where he served as policy and advocacy committee chair; vice chair of the board; and board chair from 2020-2022, where he led AFC through the COVID pandemic and the national racial reckoning in the summer of 2020. He has been a member of AFC’s honorary board since 2023.
AFC Honorary Board Chair Lori Kaufman presented Johnson with his award.
Kaufman recognized one of AFC’s founders Renslow Sherer, Jr., MD, who was in attendance. She added that her own 36-year journey with AFC “has been a blessing. We will and I will continue to resist those who try and push us backwards. In the great words of John Lewis, we will keep making good trouble … We are warriors. We fight for what is right, and we lead with conviction … You are the change makers, and your voices are heard.” Kaufman called Johnson a “fellow warrior.”
Johnson said, “These are tough times” and added that he is “grateful that AFC is in the fight.”
AFC Board Member and Fund Development Committee Co-Chair Julie Scott and AFC Board Secretary and Fund Development Committee Co-Chair Cecil Dearborne presented ITW’s Division Controller and AFC Board member Taylor Atkins with the Corporate Impact Award. Atkins accepted the award on behalf of ITW.
Scott recognized the many corporate sponsors like ITW who have funded AFC’s mission to eliminate new HIV transmissions and help the unhoused community in Chicago for many years.
Dearborne said ITW has provided over $25,000 annually to support AFC as a member of the corporate partnership program and participated in the AIDS Run and Walk as a corporate team. He added that ITW has received a 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index.
Atkins said, “Your work is inspiring, and we are so privileged to continue partnering with you in this mission. Especially right now in these uncertain times that we’re currently facing … We accept this award, not just as a recognition of our years of hard work and partnership, but also as a tribute to all those who have been affected by HIV … Together, I am hopeful we can help ensure that a future without HIV is not just a dream, but a certain reality.”
AFC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy Timothy S. Jackson presented Cassidy and Simmons with their Greg Harris Legislative Champion Awards.
Jackson lauded Harris for his many decades of work and reminded the audience that he was the only state legislator who was living with HIV when he served in the General Assembly. He said AFC chose Cassidy and Simmons due to their work to advance “major policy wins for people living with and vulnerable to HIV, passing impactful legislation to further our goals toward racial justice, health care access and affordable housing.” Jackson also outlined all the legislative victories that both Cassidy and Simmons have achieved as state legislators.
Cassidy said that her Springfield office is “AFC Office South,” and that as a “baby dyke in the 80s, I came out in an intense time” and went to more funerals before she was 30 years old than most 80-year-olds had. Cassidy invoked the late Dr. Roger Baptiste who taught her so much about being an advocate, caregiver and friend.
“As dark as things are right now, know that the trans women and the lesbians have always gotten us through the worst times,” said Cassidy.
Simmons, who is the first out LGBTQ+ person to be elected to the Illinois state Senate, said he represents a district with the most LGBTQ+ households in the state of Illinois. He recalled a new LGBTQ+ constituent who recently came to his office and told him they are scared because they have just arrived in his district as a refugee from another state that has passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws. But Simmons promised not to give up the fight for a better future.
Additionally, Simmons spoke about the latest cuts the Trump Administration has imposed that will negatively impact substance abuse treatments, mental health interventions and HIV treatments and how that made him more adamant about not giving up. Simmons said his award is for the people of Illinois, not him.
Brown surprised AFC President and CEO John Peller with his own special award for his 20 years of service at AFC. He outlined the many things Peller has done at AFC to build coalitions, achieve legislative victories, enact AFC’s first racial equity action plan, respond to the COVD-19 pandemic, challenge the Trump Administration’s harmful executive orders and grow the budget which has led to, among other things, an increased staff that has grown from 35 to 180 employees.
Peller spoke about the history of AFC and its four decades of service, including the current Getting to Zero Illinois 2030 initiative. He added, “In 1985, being diagnosed with HIV was almost certainly a terminal diagnosis,” and that so many “beautiful and brilliant people” were lost due to AIDS. He further recognized those in the room now living with HIV, and warned that AFC’s federal funding has recently been cut “because of someone’s keyword.”
“In this moment, because of Donald Trump, we’re seeing an assault on our community, our movement and beloved organizations and institutions, like AFC,” said Peller. “These efforts threaten to claw back four decades of progress, and we’re experiencing shameless hostility towards the LGBTQ+, Black and Latine communities; transgender people; people with disabilities; and immigrants.
“We are so mad that we sued Donald Trump when he tried to ban us from doing ‘illegal diversity, equity and inclusion’ [which to me mean] basic American values of fairness. We cannot end the HIV epidemic without centering diversity, equity and inclusion in our work, and without being able to recognize and acknowledge that a transgender person is nothing less than a beautiful human being. To my transgender and non-binary siblings in the room, I see you, I love you for who you are, and I will fight for you.”
After Peller’s remarks, a video presentation was shown that outlining the work AFC does for the community. DJ Onwa spun tunes throughout the event. Chicago-based art collective Haus of Paint closed out the evening’s festivities with their signature performance.
According to AFC, participants in the event raised more than $770,000.
