National Fund-Raiser Will Direct County’s AIDS Assistance Fund

One of the nation’s foremost AIDS fund-raisers was named executive director of the AIDS Assistance Fund of San Diego County on Monday.

William J. Freeman, 38, will start work July 10 for the AAF, which operates the Truax House residence, a food bank and a variety of other services for people with AIDS.

Freeman is director of institutional affairs for the National AIDS Network in Washington, where he has been credited with raising more than $1.5 million over the past two years for AIDS programs and services.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Freeman said: “I’m excited by the prospect of taking some lessons we’ve learned at the national level and applying them at the local level.” He said he is also looking forward to San Diego’s mild weather, but added: “It’s almost paradoxical. . . . The climate is so beautiful, yet within that city, as in so many others, is the growing devastation of the AIDS epidemic.”

Chosen From Field of 31

“Bill has raised millions of dollars in his last 12 years,” said AAF board member Bill Beck. “He’s one of the major fund-raisers connected with the National AIDS Network, and we were real lucky to get him.” Beck, who headed the nationwide search for a new executive director, said the six-member search committee unanimously selected Freeman from a field of 31 applicants.

“We’ve had our problems,” Beck said of the 5-year-old AIDS Assistance Fund, which recently closed its Our House live-in facility for AIDS patients because it was unable to provide the round-the-clock staffing required by the state. The fund receives no federal, state or local funding and relies mainly on private donations to provide AIDS patients with basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter.

The AAF is looking to Freeman, however, to provide the leadership that will make the San Diego program into a model for AIDS programs nationwide, Beck said.

“We think he’ll be able to work easily with corporate and community leaders and within the gay community, the straight community, as well as the black and Hispanic communities,” Beck said. “He’s 100% committed to this fight.”

Slower in Responding

San Diego, Freeman said, ranks about 12th in the number of people afflicted with AIDS and consequently has been a little slower than many large cities in formulating a coordinated response to the epidemic.

Freeman said he expects to combine fund raising, education and networking to raise the community’s awareness of AIDS.

“First, I want to listen to the people most connected with this disease,” he said. “And I’ll need to meet with a lot of folks--the image-makers, the churches and other agents of social change, and state and local political leaders as well.”

His other experience in fund raising and project development includes a four-year stint as the director of development at Boston University School of Medicine and work as the senior development officer for the Boston Ballet, director of development for the City Missionary Society of Boston and director of youth services in the East Boston Social Services Department.