Civic Theatre Benefit Announced : S.D. AIDS Project Will Try to Raise $500,000

The San Diego AIDS Project, recently under investigation for possible mishandling of state funds, has announced details of a fund-raising benefit to be held March 10 at the Civic Theatre.

The sponsors hope to raise $500,000 for research into and education about the deadly disease acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

AIDS Project officials said Monday that Sen. and Mrs. Pete Wilson, former First Lady Betty Ford and Joan Kroc will chair the event, with proceeds to be shared by the San Diego AIDS Project, UCSD Medical School’s AIDS research program, the San Diego County AIDS Assistance Fund, and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

James Stoddart, chairman of the board of directors for the AIDS Project, said 15% of the proceeds would go to UC San Diego research and 10% to American Foundation research, with the rest allocated “as needs indicate.”

“You can’t have a major medical crisis like AIDS, which requires so much money to combat it, without thinking of having something like this (fund-raiser),” Stoddart said. “. . . the need for this kind of event is in keeping with the demands and pressures that AIDS imposes on the entire community, and the purpose is to focus attention and to educate.”

Jack O’Brien, the artistic director of the Old Globe Theatre and director of the benefit, said the event would provide a “terrific opportunity for all of us in the San Diego community to show support” on the issue of AIDS.

Those scheduled to perform include New York cabaret artist Peter Allen, jazz artist Bob James, the San Diego Opera Chorus, artists who appeared in the hits “Evita” and “Cats” and from the Los Angeles musical “Berlin to Broadway.”

Tickets for the event--to go on sale today at the Civic Theatre box office and Teleseat locations--will range from $20 to $1,000, with those purchasing tickets at $250 and up invited to a post-performance dinner at the U.S. Grant Hotel, and those paying $1,000 for tickets invited to a pre-performance celebrity reception.

The San Diego AIDS Project, a nonprofit group founded in 1983, has been a major source of counseling and education about the disease, but recently underwent a state audit to determine whether project founder Hal Frank diverted AIDS Project money, including $235,000 from the state, to buy drugs.

Frank resigned as executive director of the organization last month, citing a dependency on drugs that compromised his work at the project. State Department of Health officials said they will await the outcome of an independent audit initiated by the project’s board of directors before making the results of the state audit public.

Stoddart said the recent negative publicity associated with the project had not affected the upcoming benefit and, in the long run, would help the project’s fund-raising efforts.

“Some people have held off (making contributions) to see how the audit would go, but we have had no indication that the audit has (negatively) affected people providing time or money for the benefit,” Stoddart said. “What the Frank situation has done is to focus attention on the ongoing needs of AIDS patients and on the need for a clear and accurate system of accounting.”

AIDS, which scientists believe is caused by a virus that destroys the body’s immune system, has primarily affected homosexual men, intravenous drug users and recipients of infected blood products. San Diego ranks third behind San Francisco and Los Angeles among counties in the state reporting cases of AIDS. Since 1981, there have been 180 reported cases in San Diego and 91 people have died from the disease.