It is that time again!! I’m putting together a team for the 2009 Nashville Cares AIDS Walk.  The event is on September 26th from around 10am – 2pm. 

With a little over a month left before the walk, it is time to get our team mobilized!  I know it seems like there is still some time left, but why not go ahead and register now while you’re thinking about it??

There are several ways you can be involved:

1.) Sign up to walk with the team.  The Walk is approximately 3 miles long and will take the average person approximately 45 minutes to an hour to complete. Water will be provided free to all registered walkers.  There is no fee for the walk, and no donations are required. Walk participants have the opportunity to get donations and raise money as part of their walking- but I’d never force/expect people to ask for money if they weren’t comfortable.

2.) Recommend other people to the team.  If you know of someone (family, friends, co-workers, etc) who might also want to join our team for the walk, please let me know!  You can also forward them the sign-up information that is below so they can register too!

3.) Be a virtual walker.  This is a great option for people that want to show their support for the team but won’t be in town or aren’t able to physically do the walk.  You sign up to be a member of the team, but you don’t have to actually be present at the walk.  This option requires a minimum $30 donation. 

4.) Sponsor a walker or the team.  After I get folks signed up to be on the team, a separate e-mail will come out with sponsorship information.  So, if you’re unable to participate, but want to sponsor someone, let me know and I’ll be sure you’re on the list when the information goes out! In addition, you can also provide a general donation for the team itself.

Send me an e-mail or comment here if you’d like information on how to register to be part of my team!

Thanks again for considering joining the team as we work to help Nashville Cares!  Did you know that 350 – 400 new HIV cases are reported every year in Middle Tennessee?  While there is no cure to HIV/AIDS, it is a disease that is easily preventable with education and protection.  Unfortunately many of the organizations around the world (and even right here in Nashville) don’t have what they need in order to respond to growing needs.

Let’s work together to create an HIV/AIDS-Free Nashville!  As an ancient Chinese proverb says “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  I hope you’ll join our team as we take another step.

on the journey,
Bill

As many of you know, I was laid off from my job at the General Board of Discipleship back in June.  It was a a shock, but with the economy being the way it is, we had known there were going to be some type of cuts happening for quite some time now.

So, for the last month I’ve been enjoying time to hang out with Baxter, visit with old friends, make new friends, and enjoy life without work.  Turns out, all that sitting around actually gets boring.  Who knew?

Back in December I began working part-time with Nashville CARES in their Prevention/Education department.  When the folks at CARES found out that I was suddenly very available, they worked with some of their grant sources to bring me on full-time!  So, as of this week, I’m now a full-time employee of Nashville CARES.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me exactly what it is that I’m doing with CARES. My official title is Peer Coordinator, Early Intervention Services.   Sounds fancy, huh?  Now the specifics of what the means is a little bit more difficult.  Honestly, our work is totally different day-by-day.  Oh the joys of the grant and donation funded non-profit world!   The simpliest answer is that my work focuses in two general areas: Prevention/Education and Early Intervention Services.

Prevention/Education is basically HIV 101, outreach, and HIV testing. Lots of late nights at the bar giving out condoms and lube, HIV testing events, all of that sorta stuff.

Early Intervention Services is a newer concept in HIV care & prevention.  Essentially, EIS connects with someone who is newly diagnosed as HIV+ or someone who has been HIV+ for a while but has been “lost to care” (out of medical care for a long time).  We build relationships with those individuals and walk along side them for their first year in care- making sure they get to appointments, answering questions, helping them access all the support services they need.  In addition to working with new clients, a lot of my work will be focused at developing a network of peer “buddies” who can act as mentors and guides for folks new to care.  I’ll be working to develop a training and certification program for those folks, as well as maintaining connections with our current pool of peer advocates.

I’m sure you will hear more in the upcoming weeks about how my work is shaping up and some of you might even get invited to be part of the focus groups, outreach events, and other fun things we have going on.  I’m thankful for all of your kind words and positive thoughts during my transition over the last month.  It has been a stressful month that is for sure!  At the same time, I’ve been greatly comforted by the support of my friends and familly.  I am truly blessed to have you in my life!

The new Top 7 edition of the American Idol Viewer’s Guide is now available online! This week there is a NEW feature- “who is in your bottom 3?”  The files are all in .pdf format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.  You can choose from:

• Top 7 Basic Guide- this is the bare-bones version of the Viewer’s Guide.  It features a small picture of the performer, scoring rubric, and a place for performance comments. (pdf, 1 page)
• Idol Top 7 Extended Guide- this version has the typical comments and scoring, but also has larger images, a place to write the song that was performed, and place to note the order of performances. (pdf, 3 pages)

As always, you’re welcome to distribute the Viewer’s Guide as much as you’d like.  In order to share the link on social networking sites, feel free to use the tinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/c64elp. New Viewer’s Guides will be posted every week (typically on Monday).

Don’t have time for volunteer work?  Well then Dining Out For Life is the perfect way to give back by doing something you already to- eat! Join the fight against HIV/AIDS while celebrating food, friends and community. How? By Dining Out For Life. *Voted “Best Night To Dine Out” by the Nashville Scene’s Readers Poll 2008.

Visit any of the fine participating restaurants on Tuesday, April 28 they will donate a portion of their proceeds to Nashville CARES.

More information can be found at:
http://www.diningoutforlife.com/nashville

I’m going to be out of town this year, so I need people to eat up for me!! If I was looking for a place to eat (breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner), I would choose Pied Piper Eatery in East Nashville.  They have great food, a fun atmosphere, and they will donate 30% of your check to Nashville CARES.  That is a great meal!

They are located at:
1601 Riverside Dr.
Nashville, TN 37216

Phone:615-228-2795

The new Top 8 edition of the American Idol Viewer’s Guide is now available online!  The files are all in .pdf format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.  You can choose from:

• Top 8 Basic Guide- this is the bare-bones version of the Viewer’s Guide.  It features a small picture of the performer, scoring rubric, and a place for performance comments. (pdf, 1 page)
• Top 8 Extended Guide- this version has the typical comments and scoring, but also has larger images, a place to write the song that was performed, and place to note the order of performances. (pdf, 3 pages)

As always, you’re welcome to distribute the Viewer’s Guide as much as you’d like.  In order to share the link on social networking sites, feel free to use the tinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/c64elp. New Viewer’s Guides will be posted every week (typically on Monday).