| We Are GMHC
What Gay Men’s Health Crisis is, strives to do, and more importantly,
succeeds in doing is best illustrated by the individual stories
behind each of the more than 14,000 people who utilize our myriad
services annually and the 7,000 more whose volunteer efforts make
it all happen. Throughout the following client and volunteer profiles
you will meet members of the GMHC community whose experiences give
ample evidence of the vastly different ways in which HIV and AIDS
impact a person’s life. They also clearly show the expansive nature
of the epidemic, which continues to extend its reach into poor communities,
communities of color, gay men, and women. Lastly, they show how
the services provided by GMHC are informed and designed by the
very people we serve.
GMHC is an inclusive community of survivors. Within that community
a single mother of two from Harlem will find herself sharing a meal
with a lawyer from Chelsea who is in a support group with a young
black man from Brooklyn who volunteers with a 72 year old woman
who lives on the Upper East Side. By exploding the mis-construct
that AIDS is only a gay disease, a poor disease, or a black disease,
GMHC creates a safe space for different communities whose boundaries
have been erased by HIV and AIDS to come together for mutual support
and care. It creates a new kind of community a community where
issues of poverty, sexual identity, and health are addressed, intertwined,
and transformed. What is GMHC? GMHC is a community of survivors
living longer and healthier lives.
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Manuel Rivera, Client
"At GMHC, I met some of the nicest people in my life... [The staff] told me 'Don’t worry. We are going to take care of you. You will not be thrown out of your home.' "
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Amilkal
Polanco, Volunteer
"I've been learning a lot from being here, and my life has changed
a lot." |
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Bernadette
Gladden, Client
"GMHC gives you the opportunity to get into certain things
and go places and that makes me feel better about myself because
I have proved that I'm not a loser. I'm a winner." |
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Freddy
Melendez, Client and Peer Counselor
"It's been special to be a peer counselor here because it's where
I started to recover myself." |
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Noemi
Nagy, Client
"Continuously learning and empowering myself gives me the
strength to go on another day." |
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Howard
Orlick, Client and Volunteer
"Some of my [volunteer] experiences have absolutely
blown me away." |
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Evelyn
Britt, Volunteer
"For me, it's payback time for my son and his memory." |
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Diane
M. Rosenthal, Volunteer
"Helping others makes me feel good; and I've learned
that what I give out in life I get back." |
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Lawrence
Anthony Jenkins, Client
"Now, I look toward a healthy future." |
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Henry
Peralta, Volunteer
"I'm able to help other people in my own Latino community
by sharing what I've been learning about HIV and AIDS." |
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Steve
Coriell, Client
"It's a community thing, spending time with people who are
in the same situation." |
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Durell
Knights, Volunteer
"I enjoy helping people, whether it's doing outreach or sitting
downstairs with someone for an hour and helping them sort
through their problems." |
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Jeanie
Mitchell, Client
"I think communication, honesty, and disclosing your
status to your child are very important." |
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Guillermo
Quintana, Volunteer
"In my country nobody ever told me about HIV or about
protection from it." |
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Allen
Salod, Client
"At GMHC... I wasn't categorized as a thirty-something
gay white male with HIV. I was just a man who had a chronic
illness." |
© 2005 Gay Men's Health Crisis |
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